JP2002232486A - Electronic mail transmission and reception system, its method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail transmission reception system that can reduce traffic in dialup connection and decrease a speech charge of users at dialup connection. SOLUTION: The electronic mail transmission reception system has a modem 20 having a storage means that temporarily stores data generated by a terminal 10 or a terminal adaptor 30, and a mail server 40 that makes transmission reception of electronic mail via a network, the mail server 40 periodically accesses the modem 20 or the terminal adaptor 30 to conduct transmission reception of the electronic mail between the modem 20 or the terminal adaptor 30 and the mail server 40 so as to attain the transmission reception of the electronic mail not from the dialup connection by a user but from the connection from the mail server 40, and making the connection from the mail server 40 midnight or early in the morning can reduce the traffic of a public network 50 at busy hours.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail transmitting / receiving system for transmitting / receiving electronic mail using a public network,
More particularly, the present invention relates to an e-mail transmission / reception system, a method and a program for reducing traffic in a dial-up connection and reducing a call charge for a user in the dial-up connection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet in recent years, homes have been connected to the Internet to browse homepages and send and receive e-mails. As a method for sending and receiving e-mail, there is a method in which a user dials up a mail server to send and receive e-mail.

When connecting to the Internet from home,
Make a contract with an Internet provider and register your mail address in advance on a mail server within the Internet provider. When sending an e-mail, send a message (e-mail) with the destination e-mail address to your mail server. The protocol used at this time is SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol)
ol) is widespread.

[0004] The mail server that has received the mail checks the destination address and transfers the mail to the mail server at that address. In this way, the e-mail is
Delivered to mailbox in server. The recipient of the mail accesses his / her own mailbox and retrieves the mail stored in the mailbox to the terminal. A widely used protocol at this time is POP (pos
t office protocol).

[0005] As a conventional example similar in technical field to the present invention, there is an electronic mail system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-88408. In this conventional example, when an e-mail is delivered to a user of a home PC that is not always connected to the Internet, the home PC and the I
The purpose is to make a P connection and automatically send an e-mail to the home PC. In order to achieve this object, in this conventional example, a proxy server 100 is arranged on the Internet as shown in FIG. 5 to constantly monitor the mail spool, and when mail is delivered, the mail spool user name is set. A mail server 200 having a spool monitoring unit 201 for accessing the proxy server device 100 and a mail transmitting unit 202 for transmitting the delivered mail to the home PC;
The home PC 400 includes a dial-up receiving unit 401 for receiving a dial-up from the proxy server device 100 and a mail receiving unit 402 for receiving a mail from the mail server 200.

[0006]

However, there has been a problem that dial-up connections are concentrated during high traffic hours after returning home from a company or school, which makes connection difficult. Also, some of these users do not need to send and receive mail in real time,
For the time being, some users use a mail server to check for incoming mail. Further, the method of dial-up connection from the user has a problem that a high call charge is required for the user depending on the contents of the mail to be transmitted and received.

Further, the above-mentioned conventional example has a problem that a special device such as a proxy server device for connecting the Internet and a home PC by IP from the Internet side must be separately provided, which is costly.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and reduces traffic in dial-up connection.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an e-mail transmitting / receiving system, a method, and a program for reducing a call charge for a user at the time of dial-up connection.

[0009]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a modem or a terminal adapter having first storage means for temporarily storing data created by a terminal; It has a mail server for sending and receiving e-mails via a network, and sends and receives e-mails between a modem or a terminal adapter and the mail server by regular access from the mail server. And

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the modem or the terminal adapter transfers the electronic mail stored in the first storage means by periodic access from a mail server. It is characterized by.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the mail server has a second storage means for storing the electronic mail received via the network, and the second storage means stores the second electronic mail by periodic access. The electronic mail stored in the storage means is transmitted to a modem or a terminal adapter.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail for transmitting / receiving electronic mail via a network to / from a modem or a terminal adapter having first storage means for temporarily storing data created by a terminal. An e-mail transmission / reception method with a server, wherein transmission / reception of e-mail between a modem or a terminal adapter and a mail server is performed by periodic access from the mail server.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the fourth aspect, a step of storing the electronic mail created by the terminal in the first storage means in the modem or the terminal adapter, Transmitting the e-mail stored in the mail server by a specific access.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the invention, in the mail server, the mail server stores the electronic mail received via the network in the second storage means, And a step of transmitting the electronic mail stored in the second storage means to the modem or the terminal adapter by periodic access.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail for transmitting / receiving electronic mail via a network to / from a modem or a terminal adapter having a first storage means for temporarily storing data created by a terminal. An e-mail transmission / reception program to / from a server, comprising a modem,
Alternatively, transmission and reception of electronic mail between the terminal adapter and the mail server are performed by periodic access from the mail server.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the seventh aspect, in the modem or the terminal adapter, the process of storing the e-mail created by the terminal in the first storage means, and the periodic processing from the mail server. And transmitting the electronic mail stored in the mail server by a specific access.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the seventh aspect, the mail server stores the electronic mail received via the network in the second storage means, and sends the electronic mail to the modem or the terminal adapter. And a process of transmitting the electronic mail stored in the second storage means to the modem or the terminal adapter by the periodic access.

[0018]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic mail transmitting / receiving system according to the present invention. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of an electronic mail transmitting / receiving system, a method and a program thereof according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the embodiment according to the present invention, a terminal 10 used by a user, a modem 20 having a function of temporarily storing e-mail,
pter) 30 and a mail server 40 equipped with an automatic transmission device
And a public network 50 (telephone network 60 and I
SDN network 70).

The terminal 10 used by the user is an information processing device such as a personal computer. The terminal 10 has a function of connecting to the modem 20 or the TA 30 and transmitting an e-mail to be transmitted to the modem 20 or the TA 30 and a function of receiving the received e-mail for the user stored in the modem 20 or the TA 30.

The modem 20 is connected to the telephone network 6 of the public network 50.
0, and the TA 30 is connected to the ISDN 70. The modem 20 and the TA 30 have a function of storing mail transmitted from the user and received from the terminal 10. Further, it has a function of automatically responding to an incoming call from the mail server 40 irrespective of the power ON / OFF state of the terminal 10 and storing the e-mail received from the mail server 40. Further, the modem 20 and the TA 30 are connected to the terminal 10.
Outgoing mail from the user received from the mail server 4
0 is transmitted. Also, the modem 20 has a function of distinguishing whether an incoming call from the mail server 40 is a normal telephone call or a facsimile based on a caller number or a subaddress notified from the mail server 40 when receiving an incoming call from the mail server 40. Have.

The mail server 40 has a function of periodically transmitting a call to the user's telephone number using the public network 50 (the telephone network 50 and the ISDN network 60) and connecting to the modem 20 or the TA 30. In addition, the mail server 40 has a function of notifying a caller number or a sub-address when calling a user. Further, when there is a received mail to the user, a mail is transmitted to the modem 20 or the TA30, and when there is a mail to be transmitted from the user, a mail is received from the modem 20 or the TA30. Having.

The present embodiment having the above-described configuration is capable of reducing traffic in a dial-up connection and reducing call charges for a user in the dial-up connection in an electronic mail transmitting and receiving system for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail using a public network. It is intended for.

The processing in this embodiment for achieving this object will be described. The user of this system transmits and receives e-mail from the terminal 10 when the public network 50
A mail to be transmitted to the modem 20 or the TA 30 having a temporary storage function of e-mail is stored without making a dial-up connection to the {telephone network 60 and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) network 70}. On the provider side, a call is sent to the user's telephone number by the mail server 40 equipped with an automatic calling device, and the modem 20 or T
When A30 responds, it receives the outgoing mail stored in modem 20 or TA 30 and sends it to the destination.
If there is an incoming mail to the user, the modem 2
The received electronic mail is transmitted to 0 or TA 30 to disconnect the line. The user sets up the terminal 10 and sets the modem 2
0, or check the received mail stored in the TA 30.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the dial-up connection is not made from the user side, the call charge for the user can be reduced. In addition, by making the transmission from the mail server 40 a low traffic time zone such as a late night zone, the traffic at the time of the most connection can be reduced.

Next, the operation procedure according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the mail server 40, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the modem 20 or the TA 30, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of the entire operation.

First, the mail server 4 will be described with reference to FIG.
The operation procedure of 0 will be described. When a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous access to modem 20 or TA 30 (step S1 / YES), mail server 40 sends the message to modem 20 or TA 30 via public network 50 using the specific caller number or subaddress. to access.

When there is a response from the accessed modem 20 or TA 30, the mail server 40 confirms whether an e-mail addressed to the user has been received (step S).
3). If you have received an email addressed to you,
An e-mail transmission request is issued to the modem 20 or the TA 30 and the e-mail is transmitted to the modem 20 or the TA 30 (step S4). If not received (step S4 / NO), it is checked whether there is an electronic mail transmission request from modem 20 or TA 30 (step S4).
5).

When an e-mail transmission request is received from the modem 20 or the TA 30 (step S5 / YE)
S), receiving an e-mail from the modem 20 or the TA 30 and transmitting the received e-mail to the mail server of the other party.

Next, the operation procedure of the modem 20 or the TA 30 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Upon receiving access from the public network 50 (step S10 / YES), the modem 20 or the TA 30 determines whether the access is using a specific caller number or subaddress (step S11). If a specific caller number or subaddress has not been used (step S11 / NO), it is determined that the call has been received by telephone or facsimile, and the process proceeds to normal processing. If a specific caller number or subaddress is used (step S11 / YE
S), respond to the accessed mail server 40 (step S13). When an e-mail transmission request is received from the mail server 40 (step S14 / YES), the e-mail is received from the mail server 40 and stored. If an e-mail transmission request has not been received (step S14 / NO), it is checked whether e-mails created by the terminal user have been stored (step S16).

If the electronic mail created by the user of the terminal 10 has been stored (step S16 /
YES), an e-mail transmission request is issued to the mail server 40, and the stored e-mail is
0 (step S17).

Next, the overall operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The mail server 4
Call the user's phone number regularly. In this call, a specific caller number or subaddress is set (step S20).

The modem 20 that has been accessed from the mail server 40 with a specific caller number or subaddress set
Alternatively, the TA 30 responds to this access (Step S21).

When receiving an e-mail addressed to the user of terminal 10 via the network, mail server 40 issues a mail transmission request to modem 20 or TA 30 and transmits the e-mail. Further, the modem 20 or the TA 30 receiving the mail transmission request receives and accumulates the electronic mail transmitted from the mail server 40.

To send an e-mail, the user creates a mail to be sent at the terminal 10 and sends it to the modem 2.
0 or TA30, and stores the mail created for modem 20 or TA30.

When the modem 20 or the TA 30 stores the e-mail from the terminal user, it issues a mail transmission request to the mail server 40 and transmits the stored e-mail to the mail server 40. .

The transmission and reception of the electronic mail with the modem 20 or the mail server 40 are not performed individually, and the transmission and reception of the electronic mail are performed by connecting to the modem 20 or the TA 30 by one transmission.

If the user wants to send and receive e-mails immediately as well as send and receive e-mails regularly from the mail server 40, the user can make a dial-up connection and send and receive e-mails in real time. is there. In this case, the user pays the call charge for dial-up connection.

The above embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0040]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention is not a connection by dial-up from a user,
Since the transmission and reception of the mail is performed by the connection from the mail server, the connection at the time of the late night or early morning from the mail server can reduce the traffic at the maximum connection time in the public network.

Also, since no call is sent from the user,
By setting the usage fee of this system to a fixed rate or a fee according to the number of mails to be transmitted / received, it is possible to lower the call fee required for dial-up connection.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Terminal 20 Modem 30 TA 40 Mail server 50 Public network 60 Telephone network 70 ISDN network

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A modem or terminal adapter having first storage means for temporarily storing data created by a terminal, and a mail server for sending and receiving electronic mail via a network, An e-mail transmission / reception system, wherein transmission / reception of e-mail between the modem or the terminal adapter and the mail server is performed by periodic access from the mail server. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the modem or the terminal adapter transfers the electronic mail stored in the first storage unit by the periodic access from the mail server. Email sending and receiving system. 3. The mail server according to claim 1, further comprising a second storage unit configured to store the electronic mail received via the network, and storing the electronic mail stored in the second storage unit by the periodic access to the modem. The electronic mail transmitting / receiving system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail is transmitted to a terminal adapter. 4. An electronic system between a modem or a terminal adapter having first storage means for temporarily storing data created by a terminal and a mail server for transmitting and receiving electronic mail via a network. An e-mail transmission / reception method, wherein transmission / reception of e-mail between the modem or the terminal adapter and the mail server is performed by periodic access from the mail server. 5. In the modem or the terminal adapter, by storing an e-mail created by the terminal in the first storage means, and by the periodic access from the mail server,
The method according to claim 4, further comprising: transmitting an e-mail stored in the mail server. 6. The mail server, wherein an e-mail received via a network is stored in a second storage means, a step of periodically accessing the modem or the terminal adapter, and the periodic access. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: transmitting the electronic mail stored in the second storage means to the modem or the terminal adapter. 7. An electronic device between a modem or a terminal adapter having first storage means for temporarily storing data generated by a terminal and a mail server for transmitting and receiving electronic mail via a network. An e-mail transmission / reception program, wherein transmission / reception of e-mail between the modem or the terminal adapter and the mail server is performed by periodic access from the mail server. 8. The mail server according to claim 1, wherein the modem or the terminal adapter stores the electronic mail created by the terminal in the first storage unit and the periodic access from the mail server. And transmitting the e-mail stored in the e-mail. 9. The mail server, wherein a process of storing electronic mail received via a network in a second storage means, a process of periodically accessing the modem or the terminal adapter, and a process of the periodic access 8. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 7, further comprising: transmitting the electronic mail stored in the second storage unit to the modem or the terminal adapter.