JPH10290257A - Message relay device and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] In a source system, a destination address is known, and there is no communication system with high confidentiality performance. A source system that sets a destination address and related information related to a destination in a message,
Referring to the message receiving unit 4 for receiving the message, and the transfer destination list 5b in which the transmission destination and the transfer destination address are linked by the relation information, when the relation information of the message coincides, the transmission destination address is applied. A message relay device 2 including a transfer destination determining unit 5 for changing the transfer destination address and a message transmitting unit 6 for transmitting the message changed to the transfer destination address, and transmission for receiving a message from the message relay device 2 And a destination system 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a message relay device capable of transferring a message between systems connected by a communication line, and a communication system using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the use of electronic mail has been increasing with the spread of Internet and personal computer communication. To send a message by e-mail, it is necessary to specify the destination address, but in general, it asks the other party for the destination address, or looks up it in a directory system that manages a list of addresses Then, the destination address was specified.

FIG. 6 shows an electronic mail communication system using this directory system. In this system,
First, the message transmission source system 61 issues an inquiry to the directory system 62 "I want you to know the address of the destination A". Then, the directory system 62 stores in its own database 63
And finds the address of Mr. A, and answers the result to the transmission source system 61. In the transmission source system 61, the address of Mr. A obtained from the directory system 62 is automatically or set by the user himself, and the message is transmitted to the transmission destination system 64.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-1 discloses a transmission source system for transmitting an electronic mail irrespective of a destination address.
No. 43758. In this system, as shown in FIG. 7, a logical destination specifying unit 71 specifies a logical destination such as an occupation type group and a mail document. The logical mail transmission processing means 74 sends a mail transmission request to the physical address expanded according to the latest correspondence table between the logical address and the physical address of the relational database system 73 by the electronic mail system 7.
5. I send an e-mail to people who were at the latest organization.

[0005]

However, in the transmission source system in the above-mentioned conventional technology, the actual destination of the message is, for example, "Spouse of A" or "Father of A". For personal addresses,
Third that the personal address uses the originating system
There is a problem from the viewpoint of privacy protection of Mr. A because it can be easily known to others.

When the personal address of Mr. A is changed, an address change procedure such as changing information using a special protocol for a directory system or rewriting a correspondence table for each transmission source system. There was a problem that was complicated.

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a message relay device and a communication system in which a transmission source system does not know the address of a transmission destination and can easily change and manage the address.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a message relay device, comprising: a message receiving unit for receiving a message including relationship information indicating a relationship between the device address and a transfer destination address; Transfer destination determining means for changing the device address of the message to a corresponding transfer destination address when the relation information of the message matches with reference to a transfer destination list obtained by combining Message transmitting means for transmitting the received message.

[0009] The message relay device according to claim 2 is
Message receiving means for receiving a message including relationship information indicating the relationship between the device address and the transfer destination address; and connecting the device and the transfer destination with first relationship information, and further combining the transfer destination with another transfer destination. With reference to the transfer destination list combined with the second relation information indicating the relation with the destination information, when the relation information of the message matches the first relation information, the device address of the message is changed to the corresponding transfer destination. Transfer destination determining means for changing the address information and the related information of the message to the corresponding second related information; message transmitting means for transmitting the changed message;
It is characterized by having.

A communication system according to a third aspect is a communication system comprising a source system, a message relay device, and a destination system, wherein the source system transmits the message relay device address and the address. The message relay device transmits a message including relationship information indicating a relationship with the destination address, and the message relay device includes a message receiving unit that receives the message, and a transfer destination list in which the device and the transfer destination are combined with the relationship information. A transfer destination determining unit that changes the device address of the message to a corresponding destination address when the related information of the message matches, and a message transmitting unit that transmits the changed message. The transmission destination system,
A message is received from the message transmitting means.

[0011]

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of an electronic mail communication system according to the present invention. In this system, a source system 1 that sends a message by e-mail, a message relay device 2 that changes a destination of a message from the source system 1 by a process described below, and a message from the message relay device 2 is received. And a destination system 3. Although not shown, the transmission source system 1 or the transmission destination system 3 only needs to be connected by a communication line via the message relay device 2, and a plurality of systems connected to the message relay device 2 may be provided. Alternatively, each connected system may be connected by a network. In addition, the transmission source system 1 and the transmission destination system 3
Can handle a plurality of e-mail addresses, but here, for the sake of explanation, it is assumed that each system and e-mail address correspond one-to-one.

The message relay device 2 includes a message receiving unit 4 for receiving a message from the transmission source system 1,
Transfer destination determining unit 5 that checks the transfer destination according to the header content received by message receiving unit 4 and determines the transfer destination
A message transmitting unit 6 for transmitting a message to the transfer destination determined by the transfer destination determining unit 5; and a message processing unit for processing the message when the transfer destination determining unit 5 is directed to the message relay device 2. 7 In addition, when the message relay device 2 creates and sends a mail, the message processing unit 7 also creates the mail.

The destination determining unit 5 includes a destination checking unit 5
a, a transfer destination list 5b, and a header conversion unit 5c. The transfer destination check unit 5a extracts a necessary part from the header of the message received by the message receiving unit 4, checks the transfer destination list 5b, and The header of the message is changed by the header conversion unit 5c to determine the transfer destination.

FIG. 2 shows a data example of a message used for electronic mail according to the present embodiment. Here, a header 21 and a message body 22 are included.
Both 1 and the message body 22 are text data, but the header 21 and the message body 22 are separated by blank lines. The header 21 includes the address 2 of the source system 1
1a, relationship information 21b indicating the relationship between the address 21e on the message relay device 2 set in the transmission source system 1 and the actual destination, the transmission date 21c of the e-mail, the title 21d of the e-mail, and the setting in the transmission system 1 An address 21e on the message relay device 2 and a message identifier 21f which is a unique character string for each e-mail are described. In general, a sender using the source system 1 of FIG. 1 only needs to input an address 21e on the message relay device 2, related information 21b of a destination to which an e-mail is to be sent, and a title 21d of the e-mail. Good. In this case, the sender's address on the sender system 1 is taka
emoto @ yyyy. sharp. co. jp,
The destination address on the message relay device 2 is sato @
bbb. sharp. co. jp, and the actual destination is the address sato @ bbb. sharp. co. jp
In the present embodiment, the actual destination is in the destination system 3.
Further, although the related information 21b is defined using the field name of X-relation, an existing field such as the title 21d may be used, or may be described in a specific line in the message text 22.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the transfer destination list 5b. In this table, the relationship between the user name of the transmission destination (the left side of the @ in the mail address) set in the transmission source system 1 and the address of the transfer destination of the actual message is linked and described by the relation information. The user name of the transmission destination set in the transmission source system 1 is sato, and the relationship with the person (user name: sato) of the transmission destination set in the transmission source system 1 is fat.
er (father) in FIG. 2 is fsato @
ccc. sharp. co. jp address. The absence of the description of the relation information means that the information is not transferred. In FIG. 3, all the transmission destinations are summarized in one table, but may be divided for each transmission destination. In the forwarding destination list 5b, the domain name of the mail received by the message relay device 2 is bbb. s
harp. co. jp (the address is $ bbb.s
harp. co. Although only mail addresses (ending with jp) are described, when the message relay device 2 also receives mail addressed to other domains, a list may be similarly provided for those addresses. In the present invention, since the transfer destination is determined only by managing the related information of the message relay device, the address management and change become easy, and the confidentiality performance of the personal address is improved.

Next, the operation of the present system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows the operation of the message relay device. First, when the message data as shown in FIG. 2 is set in the transmission source system 1 and transmitted to the message relay device, the message receiving unit 4 receives the data (step S1), and sends the message to the transfer destination determination unit 5 hand over. When sending a message mail from the message relay device 2, a message as shown in FIG. 2 is created in the message processing unit 7 and the message is passed to the transfer destination determination unit 5. The transfer destination check unit 5a checks the header of the message (step S2). The transfer destination check unit 5a checks the number of description lines of the related information (step S3). If the number of lines is one or less, the set of the destination and the related information is stored in the transfer destination list in FIG. Search for the same entry (step S4). If the corresponding entry exists (step S5), the header is replaced by the address of the transfer destination in FIG. 3 by the header conversion unit 5c (step S6), and the header is returned to the transfer destination check unit 5a.

Here, the destination of the message is checked again (step S7).
The message is passed to the message transmission unit 6 and a transmission is requested (step S8). If it is addressed to the present message relay device, a request is made to the message processing unit 7 for processing (step S9).

If there is a plurality of lines of related information in step S3, and if there is no corresponding entry in step S5, a mail including an error message is returned to the sender of the transmission source system 1 to perform error processing ( Step S1
0).

As described above, only by setting the address of the message relay device 2 and the related information in the header of the message in the source system 1, the transfer of the message to the address having a specific relationship with the address of the message relay device 2 is performed. Will be possible.

FIG. 5 shows a modification of FIG. The difference from FIG. 3 lies in that the device further includes transfer destination address relationship information 2. According to the transfer destination list shown in FIG. 5, as described above, the destination user name and the transfer destination address specified by the relation information 1 are replaced, and at the same time, the relation information 1 is rewritten to the relation information 2 and the message is transmitted. You can also. By transmitting in this way, a plurality of message relay devices can be passed, and the confidentiality of the address of the actual destination is improved.

As described above, in the present embodiment,
Although the system using the e-mail address has been described, other than that, it is also possible to use the terminal address, telephone number, etc., as long as it can specify the relationship between the source and destination and the destination. it can.

[0022]

According to the present invention, a message can be transmitted to an actual destination without making the sender of the message know the address of the actual destination, so that the confidentiality of the actual destination address is ensured. Changes and management become easier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a message according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer destination list according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operation of the message relay device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of a transfer destination list according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electronic mail communication system using a conventional directory system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a source system of a conventional electronic mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 source system 2 message relay device 3 destination system 4 message receiving unit 5 transfer destination determining unit 6 message transmitting unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] A message receiving means for receiving a message including relationship information indicating a relationship between the device address and the transfer destination address, and a transfer destination list in which the device and the transfer destination are linked by the relationship information. A transfer destination determining unit that changes the device address of the message to a corresponding transfer destination address when the relationship information of the message matches; and a message transmitting unit that transmits the changed message. Characteristic message relay device. 2. A message receiving means for receiving a message including relationship information indicating the relationship between the device address and the transfer destination address, the device and the transfer destination being coupled by first relationship information, and Referring to a transfer destination list combined with second relation information indicating a relation with another transfer destination, when the relation information of the message matches the first relation information, the apparatus address of the message To a corresponding destination address and a destination determining means for changing the related information of the message to the corresponding second related information; and a message transmitting means for transmitting the changed message. Message relay device. 3. A communication system comprising a source system, a message relay device, and a destination system, wherein the source system indicates a relationship between the message relay device address and a transfer destination address. The message relay device transmits a message including information, and the message relay device refers to a message receiving unit that receives the message, and a transfer destination list in which the device and the transfer destination are connected with related information, and determines a relationship between the message and the message. When the information matches, the transmission destination determining means for changing the device address of the message to the corresponding destination address, and a message transmission means for transmitting the changed message, the transmission destination system, A communication system for receiving a message from the message transmitting means.