JP2001175557A - Electronic mail system, transfer method for electronic mail, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that efficiency in transfer is low by transmitting the same user message over and over again since the user message is transmitted for every destination user by the number of users even when plural destinations are designated to the same domain in the case of transmitting electronic mail, to which plural destinations are designated. SOLUTION: In this system, the transmitting side has a same domain user input/output means 14 for preparing the arrangement of user names by extracting a user name from the destination information of electronic mail to be transmitted for every destination domain and an SMTP agent 12 for transmitting the arrangement of user names and the user message of the electronic mail for every domain and the receiving side has a same domain user input/output means 24 for distributing the user message of the received electronic mail to the users inside the domain according to the received arrangement of user names.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system, an electronic mail transfer method, and a recording medium, and more particularly to a technology for efficiently transferring an electronic mail when a plurality of user names are included in the same domain.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art SMTP (simple mai) which is an electronic mail delivery protocol defined by RFC821.
The address of the e-mail by l transfer protocol is composed of a user name and a domain name such as “user name @ domain name”, and each user is included in any one of the domains. A mail server equipped with an SMTP agent, which is electronic mail control means for managing, is arranged. An e-mail to a user in another domain is transmitted from the own mail server to the destination mail server, and delivered to the destination user's mailbox provided in the destination mail server. The transferred e-mail is composed of a header part including information such as a destination and a subject, and a body, and the entire sentence is used as a user message.

In the case of an e-mail with a plurality of destinations specified, the same user message is transmitted for each destination user. Therefore, it is necessary to transmit the same user message to the same destination domain by the number of destination users. there were.

On the other hand, with the spread of the Internet, the spread of client PCs, and the use of e-mail in companies and the like, the amount of information on mail flowing on the Internet becomes enormous, and more expensive lines and mail servers are required. At the same time, efficient transfer technology has become increasingly important.

[0005]

As described above, in the prior art, when sending an e-mail to which a plurality of destinations are specified, even if a plurality of destinations are specified for the same domain, each destination Since the same number of user messages are transmitted each time, the same user message is transmitted many times, resulting in poor transfer efficiency.

[0006] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem by transmitting an e-mail to the same domain by collectively transmitting a destination user name and transmitting a corresponding user message only once, thereby achieving efficient transmission. It will be realized.

[0007]

A first e-mail system according to the present invention is a same-domain user input / output that extracts a user name for each destination domain from destination information of an e-mail to be transmitted and creates a sequence of user names. Means, and e-mail control means for transmitting the sequence of user names and e-mail user messages for each domain.

[0008] A second electronic mail system according to the present invention comprises: first same-domain user input / output means for extracting a user name for each destination domain from destination information of an electronic mail to be transmitted to create a sequence of user names; An e-mail control means for transmitting the sequence of the user names and the user message of the e-mail for each domain on a transmission side, and according to the sequence of the received user names, converts the received user message of the e-mail into a domain. The receiving side has a second same domain user input / output means for distributing to users within the same domain.

[0009] A first electronic mail transfer method of the present invention is as follows.
The method includes the steps of dividing the destination user name of the e-mail to be transmitted for each domain to collectively create a sequence of user names, and transmitting the sequence of the user names and the user message of the e-mail for each domain.

[0010] A second method for transferring an electronic mail according to the present invention is as follows.
A procedure for creating a list of user names by dividing a destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted for each domain and transmitting the user name sequence and a user message of the e-mail for each domain as a unit. And a step of distributing the user message of the e-mail to each destination user according to the sequence of the received user names.

[0011] A third electronic mail transfer method according to the present invention includes:
A procedure for dividing the destination user name of the e-mail to be sent for each domain and creating a list of user names, and a step of combining the sequence of the user names and the user message of the e-mail for each destination domain And an e-mail transfer method for distributing the e-mail user message to each destination user in accordance with the received user name sequence.

A first recording medium according to the present invention includes a step of dividing a destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted for each domain to collectively create a sequence of user names; A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting a message in units of each destination domain is recorded.

[0013] A second recording medium according to the present invention is a method for dividing a destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted for each domain to collectively create a sequence of user names; A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of transmitting a message for each destination domain and a procedure of distributing a user message of the e-mail to each destination user according to the received user name sequence is recorded.

[0014]

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a configuration for transferring an electronic mail from a domain A to domains B and C. The sending side domain A is connected to the user 17 on the client computer and the network X2.
It has a mail server 11 connected by. Although only one user is shown in FIG. 1, users included in the domain A are connected by the network X2. Usually, one user is often used fixedly on one client computer.

The mail server 11 has a CP (not shown).
U, memory, input / output device, and networks X1, X2
A computer including a connection device with the user agent 16 for transmitting and receiving an e-mail with the user 17 through the network X2, a communication queue 15 for temporarily storing the e-mail received by the user agent 16, and an SMTP protocol. An SMTP agent 12 for controlling transmission / reception of electronic mail is mounted. The user agent 16, the SMTP agent 12, and the transmission queue 15 include a program and an area provided on a memory. Further, the SMTP agent 12 transmits the RF
In addition to the functions defined in C821, the same-domain user input / output unit 14 and the same-domain user name storage unit 13, which are characteristic functions of the present invention, are included.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the structure of a user message of an electronic mail received from the user 17 and held in the communication queue 15. The user message 41 of the entire electronic mail message includes a header 42 including a destination address and a subject.
And the text 43. The destination address has the format "user name @ domain name" as described above.
FIG. 2 shows a case where the destination is five users.

FIG. 3 explains the state of the information stored in the same domain user name storage unit 13 as the electronic mail of FIG. The records to be stored are a list of domains B and user names belonging to them (user names D, F, G), and a list of domains C and user names belonging to them (user names E,
H). As described above, each record is composed of a destination domain name and a list of destination user names included in the record (47 or 48 in FIG. 3), and is created for each destination domain. These records are created by the same domain user input / output unit 14 using the transmission queue 15 as an input.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the mail server on the receiving side in domain B and domain C. The information transmitted from the mail server 11 of the domain A is the mail server 2
1 on the SMTP agent 22. Like the mail server 11, the mail server 21 includes a CPU, a memory, an input / output device, and a network X1 (not shown).
It is a computer including a connection device and the like. The SMTP agent 22 controls the user name storage unit 23 that temporarily stores the received user name sequence and the user name storage unit 23, and transmits the user message received to each user's mailbox 25 from the user name sequence. It has the same domain user input / output means 24 for storing. Mailbox 25
Is a group of mailboxes of each user included in the domain B. FIG. 1 shows only the users D, F, and G.

The configuration of the domain C is the same as that of the domain B, and the mail server 31
The agent 32 is in the SMTP agent 22, the user name storage 33 is in the user name storage 23, the same domain user input / output means 34 is in the same domain user input / output means 24, the mailbox 35 is in the mailbox 25,
Each corresponds. It should be noted that the mailbox 35 is shown in FIG.
Shows only users E and H.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, the operation when the user 17 transmits an e-mail to the users D, F, and G of the domain B and the users E and H of the domain C will be described in detail as an example. The e-mail transmitted by the user 17 is received by the user agent 16 mounted on the mail server 11 in the same domain, and registered in the communication queue 15 as a user message as shown in FIG. SMTP Agent 1
2 activates the same domain user input / output means 14 when the user message is registered in the communication queue 15.

The subsequent operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The same-domain user input / output means 14 sends the header 4 of the user message registered in the transmission queue 15.
2 is read out, classified for each domain, and stored in the same domain user name storage unit 13 (S61). As shown in FIG. 3, the storage format is a record unit in which a sequence of domain names and user names is set, and records are created by the number of destination domains. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 47 denotes a sequence of user names addressed to the domain B, and reference numeral 48 denotes a sequence of user names addressed to the domain C.

In step S62, the SMTP agent 12 extracts the user name sequence 47 of the domain B from the same domain user name storage unit 13 and sends it to the domain B as an electronic mail user message. The SMTP agent 22 receives this in the domain B, stores the user name sequence 47 received by the same domain user input / output means 24 in the user name storage unit 23, and returns a response (S71). Domain A SMTP Agent 1
Upon receiving the response, 2 transmits a user message (41 in FIG. 2) to domain B (S63).

Domain B SMTP agent 22
Receives the user message, activates the same domain user input / output means 24, retrieves the user name sequence 47 received in S71 from the user name storage unit 23, and retrieves the user names D, F included in the user name sequence 47. , G are stored in the respective mailboxes, and the SMTP agent 22 returns a response to the domain A (S72). Actually, the user message stored in the mailbox is created by assembling based on the original user message, but the detailed description is omitted.

When the transfer to the domain B is completed as described above, the transmission to the domain C is performed next. This procedure (S6
4, S81, S65, and S82) correspond to the above-described procedures (S62,
(S71, S63, S72), and the description is omitted. However, the arrangement of the user names to be transmitted is as shown at 48 in FIG. 3, and the user messages are stored in the mailboxes of the users E and F in the mailbox 35 of the domain C.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, the mail server 21 is connected to a client computer via a network.
Of the user access the mailbox 25 and take out the electronic mail addressed to the user. The same applies to domain C.

As described above, by creating a sequence of user names and transmitting them separately from the user messages, the number of transmissions of the user messages can be reduced. In particular, it is clear that the effect is remarkable when a large number of destination users are included in the same domain, and that the effect becomes more remarkable as the data amount of the user message is larger. In addition, since the amount of data processed by each mail server is reduced along with the reduction in the data transfer amount, the load on each mail server is also reduced.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Rather than performing the transfer between domains in two steps of the arrangement of the user name and the user message as in the first embodiment described above, the arrangement of the user name and the user message are collectively transferred once. This is a feature of the second embodiment. Since other features are the same as those of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted, and only the features will be described.

In the second embodiment, the sequence of user names and the user message are sent together to the domain B in step S62 of FIG. 4, and when the domain B receives this, the destination user And stores the user message in the mailbox of the destination user, and returns a response to domain A. So domain A is 2
The second transmission step (corresponding to S63) becomes unnecessary, and the domain B executes the steps of S71 and S72 by one reception. The transfer to the domain C is also performed once.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the sequence of user names and the user messages are transferred together, so that the transfer operation between domains can be executed at one time. For this reason, the mail server on the receiving side does not need to store the arrangement of the user names received the first time, so that the user name storage units 23 and 33 in FIG. 1 become unnecessary.

Next, the recording medium shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In the first embodiment, the recording medium 19 is a medium on which the procedure for executing S61 to S65 in FIG. 4 is recorded, and in the second embodiment, the recording medium 19 is in S61 to S65 in FIG.
Is a medium on which a procedure in which the procedure of the second embodiment is changed as described in the second embodiment is recorded. The recording medium is the mail server 11
Is loaded and executed.

In the first embodiment, the recording medium 29 is a medium on which a procedure for executing steps S71 and S72 in FIG. 4 is recorded. In the second embodiment, the recording medium 29 is a step S7 in FIG.
1 is a medium in which a procedure in which the procedure of S72 is changed as described in the second embodiment is recorded. The recording medium 29
It is loaded into the mail server 21 and executed. The recording medium 39 is the same as the recording medium 29.

In FIG. 1, the sending function is shown in domain A and the receiving function is shown in domains B and C to explain the operation. However, since each mail server has both sending and receiving functions, The configuration of the server is as shown in the block diagram of FIG. In FIG. 5, those having the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 have the same functions as those in FIG. 1, and thus description thereof will be omitted. Although only one user 77 is shown, it represents a user belonging to the domain J. The user agent 76 receives the e-mail from the user 77 and registers it in the communication queue 15, and extracts the e-mail from the user's 77 mailbox in the mailbox 75 in response to the request of the user 77. It has a function of transmitting to the user 77.

In the first embodiment, the storage medium 79 executes a procedure for executing S61 to S65 in FIG. 4 which is a procedure on the transmitting side, and executes S71 and S72 in FIG. 4 which is a procedure for the receiving side. In the second embodiment, a medium in which the procedures of S61 to S65 and S71 and S72 of FIG. 4 are changed as described in the second embodiment is recorded. Media. The storage medium 79 is loaded on the mail server 71 and executed.

[0034]

The first effect is that the amount of data transfer of a network or a communication line used for connection between mail servers can be greatly reduced. The reason is that, for an e-mail addressed to a plurality of users of the same domain, a user message can be transmitted to the plurality of users only once by e-mail.

The second effect is that the load on the mail server can be reduced. The reason is that the data transfer amount between mail servers is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention for explaining transmission / reception operations.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a format of an electronic mail according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a storage format of a same-domain user name storage unit 13 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining transmission / reception operations according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mail server equipped with a transmission / reception function according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Mail server 12 SMTP agent 13 Same domain user name storage part 14 Same domain user input / output means 15 Communication queue 16 User agent 19 Recording medium 21 Mail server 22 SMTP agent 23 User name storage part 24 Same domain user input / output means 25 Mailbox 29 Recording medium 31 Mail server 32 SMTP agent 33 User name storage unit 34 Same domain user input / output means 35 Mailbox 39 Recording medium

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B089 GA11 GB03 JA31 KA07 KC53 LA09 LA19 5K030 GA03 HA08 HB29 JT03 KA06 LC09 LD11 MB18 9A001 BB02 BB03 BB04 CC02 CC06 DD10 FF02 JJ14 JJ18 JJ25 JJ27 KK56

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A same-domain user input / output means for extracting a user name for each destination domain from destination information of an e-mail to be transmitted to create a sequence of user names, and providing a sequence of the user names and a user message of the e-mail. An e-mail system comprising: an e-mail control unit that transmits the e-mail to each domain. 2. A first same-domain user input / output means for extracting a user name for each destination domain from destination information of an e-mail to be transmitted to create a sequence of user names, and E-mail control means for transmitting a user message for each domain at the transmission side, and distributing the received e-mail user message to users in the domain according to the received user name sequence An e-mail system that has domain user input / output means on the receiving side. 3. A destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted is divided for each domain and put together to create a sequence of user names,
An electronic mail transfer method for transmitting the sequence of the user names and the electronic mail user message for each domain. 4. A destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted is divided for each domain and put together to create a sequence of user names,
The electronic mail that distributes the user message of the e-mail to each destination user in accordance with the sequence of the user names when transmitting the user name sequence and the e-mail user message as a unit for each destination domain and receiving the unit. Email forwarding method. 5. A destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted is divided for each domain and put together to form a sequence of user names,
When the domain of the user name and the user message of the e-mail are transmitted as a unit for each destination domain and received in the unit, the user message of the e-mail is transmitted to each destination user according to the sequence of the user names. How to forward emails for distribution. 6. A procedure for dividing a destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted for each domain to collectively create a sequence of user names, and a method for dividing a destination user name into a unit of the sequence of the user names and a user message of the e-mail. A recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for transmitting the data for each domain is recorded. 7. A procedure for dividing a destination user name of an e-mail to be transmitted for each domain to collectively create a sequence of user names, and for transmitting a sequence of the user names and a user message of the e-mail for each destination domain. A recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a transmitting procedure and a procedure of distributing the user message of the e-mail to each destination user in accordance with the received arrangement of the user names.