JP2003208388A - Electronic mail system and electronic mail transmission method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transmit a settlement information mail to a specified person on settlement in a specified method for each kind of settlement. <P>SOLUTION: A settler presets a transmission method, etc., of the settlement information mail to be transmitted to himself/herself to an attention mail server for controlling transmission of information mails from pictures 30 and 31. Various settings are performed to types of settlement set in a picture 30 on the picture 31. A transmitting destination address of the type of settlement is set by an input part 45 and transmission timing, information contents, etc., are set in the other input part of a setting area 31A. Setting of the information mail to a deputy for settlement is performed in a setting area 31B. Transmitting destinations of information mails can be set for every type of settlement and transmission of the information mail to a portable terminal is enabled by the limitation of the number of characters and the division setting in input parts 41 to 43. Since transmission settings to the deputy can be performed, a settlement processing is enabled irrespective of whereabouts of the settler. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides an electronic mail system and an electronic mail transmitting method capable of adaptively sending electronic mail according to the contents of the electronic mail, the setting of the delivery destination, and the like. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet and Intranet, many systems applying networks to business have appeared. As an example of such a system,
There is an electronic settlement system that performs settlement processing via a network. In this electronic approval system, for example, an approval application is created in a terminal device such as a personal computer connected to a network and registered in a database. Persons in the position of giving approval to the settlement application will be notified of the circulation of the settlement application by e-mail via the network. Based on this notification, the referral destination accesses the database and performs approval processing for the approval application. The database is updated according to the approval result.

It is also conceivable that the electronic approval system can be approved from the outside by using a website on the Internet. For example, the approval application is placed on the website, and the approval application can be accessed using a password or the like. However, in this case, a problem such as security may occur, which is not preferable.

The use of a network for system monitoring has already existed in the past. In this monitoring system, for example, if some trouble occurs in the monitored system, such as a system down or power outage, the designated contacts will be automatically contacted by telephone, wireless, or email. It

[0005]

The above-mentioned conventional electronic decision making system has a problem that the decision making unit cannot be limited because it allows the original decision making agent to act on its behalf.

Further, depending on the authorizer, the number of authorization requests per day may be very large. In this case, if a notification by e-mail is received every time an approval request is generated, a huge amount of e-mail will be received. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile communication terminals that perform wireless telephone communication have become widespread and have an e-mail transmission / reception function. When the approver is sending and receiving normal e-mail using this mobile communication terminal, if all the e-mails notifying such approval request are received by this mobile communication terminal, it can be received or saved. There is a problem in that the email capacity may be exceeded.

Further, there has been a problem that the fee for receiving the electronic mail of the approval request notification and replying to the electronic mail may be enormous.

On the other hand, for example, it is expected that there will be no approval request notification by e-mail for a certain period. In this case, there is a problem that some people may feel anxious about the system.

Further, in the above-described monitoring system, conventionally, the designated contact point has been notified regardless of the content of the trouble. For example, even if the content of the trouble can be automatically recovered or the operation of the system to be monitored is not affected, the designated contact is notified. Therefore, there has been a problem that the correspondent at the contact may have a great deal of information.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to send an approval notice by a specified method to a designated person in the approval for each type of approval when an electronic approval notice is sent by e-mail. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system and an electronic mail transmission method that can perform

Another object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail system and an e-mail transmission method capable of notifying a designated contact by e-mail by a monitoring system according to the contents of the notification. is there.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an electronic mail system for sending a notification to a predetermined user using electronic mail,
The type setting means for setting the type of notification content, the address setting means capable of setting a destination address according to the type set by the type setting means, and the destination address set by the address setting means An electronic mail system comprising: an electronic mail transmitting means for transmitting a notification of a type corresponding to a destination address by electronic mail.

Further, according to the present invention, in an electronic mail transmitting method for transmitting a notification to a predetermined user using electronic mail, the method is set by a type setting step of setting a type of notification content and a type setting step. The address setting step in which the destination address can be set according to the type, and the electronic mail for sending the notification of the type corresponding to the destination address to the destination address set in the address setting step by e-mail And a step of transmitting an email, which is an electronic mail transmitting method.

As described above, according to the present invention, the notification of the type corresponding to the destination address is transmitted by e-mail to the destination address corresponding to the type of the notification content. Notifications can be received at different addresses depending on the type of notification content.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The first embodiment of this embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a decision making system adapted to perform decision making work on a network.

Prior to the description of the first embodiment, a settlement system will be briefly described. FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of a decision making system. In the approval system, the approval application form created by the drafter 101A is stored in the approval management database 103 that manages approval, and the occurrence of approval is sequentially notified to the distribution destination by e-mail via the network. . At the referral destinations such as the superior 101B, the approval secretariat 106 and the prior confirmation person 107, the approval management 103 database is accessed based on this notification,
Confirmation and approval are performed by referring to the application for approval. The notice is the approval approver 101C who finally makes the approval, and / or
Alternatively, it is sent to a proxy (not shown) acting on behalf of the approval. Based on this notification, the approval approver (approver) 101C and / or the proxy approve the matter described in the approval application form. The settlement result is stored in the settlement management database 103.

As described above, in the decision making system, the decision making application prepared as an electronic document is circulated to each confirmer, approver and decision maker via electronic mail. Each confirmer, approver, and approver is listed in the email,
Based on the information indicating the location of the approval application, the approval application can be referred to via e-mail. Further, the e-mail of the notification to each distribution destination is automatically prepared and transmitted by the approval system.

FIG. 2 shows a system configuration of an example of a settlement system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. For example, the decision making management server 10 and the originator terminal 11 are connected to an intranet 1 constructed in a company in which this system is introduced. Although not shown, the approval management server 10 controls the operation of the approval system and has a approval management database in which the approval application is registered and stored. For example, by giving a predetermined command to the approval management server 10, it is possible to refer to the approval application form registered in the approval management database. In addition,
In reality, more terminal devices are connected to the intranet 1.

The intranet 1 is a firewall 2
It is connected to the Internet 3 via the Internet and can communicate with the outside of the company. The firewall 2 blocks unauthorized access from the Internet 3 to the intranet 1. This allows secure communication between the inside and outside of the company. A proxy terminal 13, which is a terminal used by a proxy who has the authority to make a decision on behalf of the authorizer, is connected to the Internet 3. The agent terminal 13 is not limited to this, and may be connected to the intranet 1.

Further, a predetermined communication facility (not shown) is connected to the Internet 3 so that the portable terminal 14 can perform communication via the Internet 3. The mobile terminal 14 is, for example, a mobile phone device or a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), and is capable of sending and receiving electronic mail.

Further, in the first embodiment, between the firewall 2 and the Internet 3,
An attention mail server 12 is provided. The attention mail server 12 controls the exchange of e-mails for approval notification to the approver and / or the proxy according to the first embodiment.

Although not shown in FIG. 2, a mail server is connected to each of the intranet 1 and the internet 3. Normal mail exchanges within the intranet 1, the internet 3, and between the intranet 1 and the internet 3 are controlled by these mail servers.

Next, the approval process by the approval system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows a processing flow based on FIG. 2 described above. Note that, in FIG. 3, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 2 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in FIG. 3, the intranet 1, the internet 3 and the firewall 2 are omitted.

The drafter creates an application for approval by using the drafter terminal 11. The created approval application form is transmitted from the drafter terminal 11 to the approval management server 10 via the intranet 1, and registered and stored in the approval management database of the approval management server 10. In addition, a route to which the created approval application is circulated is set, and is registered and stored in the approval management database in association with the approval application. As a result, the drafter requests approval (step S10).

It should be noted that, when the approval application is created, a unique approval number and a personal identification number are generated by a predetermined method for each approval application. The generated approval number and personal identification number are stored in the approval management database in association with the corresponding approval number. The personal identification number can be generated based on the above-mentioned authorization number generated when applying for authorization. Not limited to this, for example, it can be generated from the date and time when the approval application is created, the ID of the creator, and the like.

Further, there are various types of approvals applied by the approval application form. Among them, for example, a quotation approval, which is the approval of the quotation to be submitted to the customer, and a consignment approval, which is the approval for outsourcing of development, maintenance, and the like, are more urgent. On the other hand, for example, an organizational decision, which is a decision regarding the establishment or reorganization of an organization, does not require urgency, but is a decision that requires high confidentiality. The urgency and confidentiality of the decision are set when the drafting application is created by the drafter on the drafter terminal 11, and are registered in the draft management database together with the decision application.

When the content of the proposed approval application is registered in the approval database, the attention mail server 12 is notified that the proposal has been made (step S11).
The notified contents are stored in a database (not shown) included in the attention mail server 12.

On the other hand, the application for approval is circulated to each confirmer and approver via e-mail in accordance with the route of the set distribution destination, and receives predetermined confirmation and approval. Upon approval by the pre-confirmer prior to the approver, the approver will be notified by email asking for approval of the application. At this time, in the first embodiment, the attention mail server 12 notifies the authorizer by e-mail according to the contents preset by the authorizer (step S12). As will be described later, when a decision-making agent is set, this decision-making notification is sent to the decision-making agent terminal 13 of the decision-making agent.
May also be transmitted (step S12 ').

The attention mail server 12 according to the first embodiment will be described in more detail. The attention mail server 12 is preset by the authorizer with the method of notifying the authorizer of the authorization application form (step S100). This attention mail server 12 sends the approval approval notification requesting the approval of the approval application to the approver.
You will be notified by e-mail based on the contents set for.

The authorizer is the attention mail server 12
On the other hand, various settings relating to the above-mentioned e-mail can be made. The settings made by the authorizer for the attention mail server 12 include, for example, the following. (1) Notification timing according to the type of approval (2) E-mail address to be notified (3) Designation of transmission contents (4) Display of sender information (5) Display of reader name (6) ) Message length upper limit and the action to take when the upper limit is exceeded (7) Set the email address of the deputy agent (secretary) (8) Set the decision type that should not be notified to the deputy agent

Of these, the notification timing (1) can be designated as immediate or scheduled for each type of approval. Immediately, when the attention mail server 12 is notified that a decision has been made for the authorizer, the attention mail server 12 immediately sends a notification mail to the authorizer. On the other hand, at regular times, a notification email is sent to the approver at a predetermined time, and every hour, a predetermined time within a day is designated, for example, a week or a month. It is possible to specify a fixed time when a predetermined time of day is specified, or the like. Further, not limited to this, it is possible to specify a specific day.

Further, in (3) designation of transmission contents, it is possible to designate the presence or absence of the title, contents, remarks, attached documents, etc. in the notification mail transmitted from the attention mail server 12 to the approver.

Further, the setting regarding the message length of (5) is set such that the destination of the communication mail transmitted from the attention mail server 12 to the authorizer is a receivable character length such as a portable terminal. It is more preferable to set it when the upper limit is set. For example, in a notification mail sent as a mobile terminal to a destination, if the character length of the mail exceeds the upper limit of the predetermined character length, a message should be displayed so that each character length does not exceed the upper limit. It is possible to select and set whether to divide and transmit or not to transmit.

In (6) and (7), it is possible to set the decision-making proxy. The decision-making agent is a person who has the authority to make a decision on behalf of the decision-maker, and is, for example, a secretary of the decision-maker. Depending on the type of approval, there are also approvals that should not be notified to the approval agent. In addition, the application for approval submitted to the authorizer as confidential or confidential should not be notified to the authorizer. In (7), the type of approval that should not be notified to the agent for approval is specified to the attention mail server 12.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the authorizer setting screens 30 and 31 in which the authorizer makes the above-described settings for the attention mail server 12 in the authorizing system according to this embodiment. The authorizer setting screens 30 and 31 are displayed, for example, by connecting the authorizer terminal (not shown) connected to the intranet 1 to the attention mail server 12 in a predetermined manner.
Based on the display of the screens 30 and 31, the above-mentioned various settings can be made.

For example, the authorizer launches a predetermined login screen on the authorizer terminal and inputs the user ID and password given by the system to the authorizer terminal to the authorizer terminal. From 12, it is recognized that the access is made by the authorizer, and the authorizer setting screens 30 and 31 can be displayed.

The authorizer setting screen 30 shown in FIG. 4A is first displayed. The name of the authorizer recognized based on the user ID and password input at the time of login is displayed on the display unit 40, for example. Based on the display of the authorizer setting screen 30, the authorizer sets, by the input unit 41, whether to set the upper limit of the number of characters in the notification mail transmitted from the attention mail server 12.
When the upper limit is set, the number of characters is specified by the input unit 42, and when the number of characters of the notification mail exceeds the set upper limit, each of the notification mails does not exceed the upper limit of the number of characters. The input unit 43 sets whether to perform divided transmission.

Further, on the authorizer setting screen 30, based on the display of the input section 44, the subject matter (authorization type) to be set is selected and set. By selecting the display "common to all cases", it is possible to set common settings for all approval types.

When the character number limit and the type of approval to be set are set on the authorizer setting screen 30, the authorizer setting screen 31 is displayed, an example of which is shown in FIG. 4B. In the example of FIG. 4, the authorizer setting screen 31 is divided into setting areas 31A and 31B. In the setting area 31A, the notification method to the authorizer is set, and in the setting area 31B, the authorizer of the authorizer is set. The notification method for is set.

In the setting area 31A, the input section 45 inputs the e-mail address from which the decision maker wants to receive the notification mail. The e-mail address input to the input unit 45 is, for example, an address to which a notification e-mail is desired to be received when the authorizer is outside the intranet 1. On the display units 46 and 47, the recognized name and
The approval type selected as the setting target on the above-mentioned authorizer setting screen 30 is displayed.

In the input section 48, the timing for transmitting the notification mail is set. When "regular time" is set, the desired time of transmission is entered. As the time, one or more can be input. If set to immediate or hourly, no time is entered.
You can also set not to deliver the notification email.

Items to be displayed in the notification mail are set in the input sections 49, 50 and 51. Whether or not to display the approval number, title, content of approval and remarks is set in the input unit 49. The input unit 50 sets whether to display the sender information (e-mail address or the like), and the input unit 51 sets whether to display attached documents. For example, when the e-mail address is set to receive the notification mail on the mobile terminal having a small display screen size, it is preferable to set the input unit 51 so that the attached document is not displayed.

The input section 52 sets whether or not to notify the cancellation of approval, and the input section 53 sets items related to the transmission of the test mail. The cancellation of the decision and the test mail will be described later.

In the setting area 31B, various items relating to the deputy agent are set. In the example of FIG. 4B, up to two decision-making agents can be set. Input sections 60 and 6
In 1, the name and e-mail address of the first proxy are entered. The input unit 62 includes the input unit 6
The expiration date of the person entered in 0 and 61 as a proxy for decision making is entered. In the same manner, the information of the second proxy agent is input to the input unit 63.

In the input section 64, it is set whether or not to send the decision making application confidential to the decision making person to the decision making agent. Further, the contents displayed in the notification mail are set in the input unit 65.

In this way, the setting information in which each item is set on the authorizer setting screens 30 and 31 is stored in the attention mail server 12 in a predetermined manner. As described above, when the approval management server 10 notifies the attention mail server 12 that the approval has occurred in step S11, the attention mail server 12 sets the distribution route to the route set for the approval application. Based on
The above setting information set by the corresponding approver is retrieved. Attention mail server 12 creates a notification mail notifying that a decision has occurred based on the retrieved setting information. The created notification mail is stored in the database (not shown) of the attention mail server 12. When the number of characters limit and the divided transmission are set in the authorizer setting screen 30, the number of characters of the notification mail is counted in the attention mail server 12, and when the number of characters is larger than the set upper limit value, each number of characters is counted. Is divided so that is below the upper limit, and a notification mail is created.

Attention mail server 12 checks the transmission request dates and times of all users (authorizers) set and registered on authorizer setting screens 30 and 31 by spool processing, and responds from the database for each set date and time. The notification email to be sent is retrieved and sent.

The notice mail sent from the attention mail server 12 is, for example, the above-mentioned decision-maker setting screen 31.
If an e-mail address that can be received by the mobile terminal 14 is designated in the input unit 45, the Internet 3
Is received by the mobile terminal 14 of the approver 20. Of course, the transmission destination address of the approval notification electronic mail may be the electronic mail address of a general Internet service provider. Further, the transmission destination address of the approval notification email may be an address on the intranet 1 within the company.

Here, when security is taken into consideration, it is preferable that the authorizer 20 can make the authorization (approval) only from the terminal connected to the intranet 1 in the company. Therefore, a method of making the decision making system inaccessible from outside the company is often adopted.

In such a case, the authorizer 20 edits the received notification mail as it is or edits it to become the authorizer (eg, secretary) set in the setting area 31B of the authorizer setting screen. It is transferred to (step S13). At this time, for example, a keyword given in advance, such as a personal identification number, is transferred from the attention mail server 12 to the authorizer 20. Whether or not to authorize the authorizing agent to perform the authorization is determined by whether or not to notify the authorizing agent of the keyword. Of course, the keyword may be notified from the authorizer to the authorizer by other means such as verbal communication, phone call via a mobile terminal, and writing. For example, the proxy is permitted to access the decision making management server 10 by inputting a correct keyword when logging in to the decision making server 10.

This transferred notification mail is received by the authorization agent at the authorization agent terminal 13. Here, it is assumed that the authorization agent terminal 13 in FIG. 3 is connected to the intranet 1. The deputy agent is
The approval management server 10 is accessed using the keyword described in the transferred notification mail, and the approval or approval is performed based on the content of the notification mail (step S14).

By adopting such a configuration of the approval system, smooth approval processing tailored to the content of the approval can be carried out for each approval case without keeping track of the whereabouts of the approver 20 while maintaining high security. It will be possible. Further, the authorizer setting screens 30 and 31 allow the authorizer 20 to arbitrarily set the destination of the authorization notification mail to, for example, the mobile terminal 14. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the troublesomeness at the time of receiving the approval notification mail, reduce the communication charge, etc., and to make the approval notification at a reasonable price.

The number of authorizers is not limited to one per case. For example, there may be a case where a plurality of authorizers 20 authorize a single case in parallel. When a plurality of authorizers 20 make the approvals in parallel, it is possible to deal with it by setting the destination of the approval notification mail by the attention mail server 12 to be plural.

In addition, there may be a case where a single decision (checking, confirmation), a second decision (approval), and a plurality of steps are performed for one case. In this case, for example, after the first decision, the above-mentioned system can be applied as it is by considering the first decider as the drafter and the second decider as the decider. This is expanded to (N-
1) After the next decision, by replacing the (N-1) next decider with the drafter and the Nth decider with the decider, the present invention can be applied to the case where the decision is made in more steps.

Next, the cancellation process of the approval in the approval system according to the first embodiment will be described.
When canceling a once-drafted approval application, the approval application form is deleted from the approval management database 10.
In the case of a normal decision-making system in which the decision-making notification email is not sent on a regular basis, the decision-maker will be notified by e-mail of the cancellation of the decision-making application and, if necessary, the decision-making agent. Will be notified by e-mail. If there are multiple authorizers, all of them will be notified.

As in the first embodiment, the authorizer 2
If the approval notification mail for 0 is sent at preset preset times, etc., if the approval application is deleted from the approval management database before the approval notification email is sent to the approver 20 at regular intervals. , There is no data to be transmitted at that stage. Therefore, the decision maker 20 is not notified of the decision cancellation. That is, the approver 20 is not notified that the approval application has been proposed or that the proposal has been canceled.

On the other hand, if the approval application is deleted from the approval management database after the approval notification mail is sent to the approver at regular intervals, the approval is sent only to the other party to whom the approval notification mail is sent. You will be notified by email that your application has been deleted. Note that the notification mail is also sent in the same manner when the input unit 48 of the authorizer setting screen 31 is set to immediately send the notification mail.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, when a decision notice mail to the decider 20 is sent at preset preset times, etc., a decision notice mail is sent to the decider 20 at regular intervals. When the application for approval is deleted from the approval management database before the approval, it is possible to set whether or not to send the approval cancellation notification mail to notify that effect. This setting can be performed by the input unit 52 on the authorizer setting screen 31 described above with reference to FIG. 4B.

In the system according to the first embodiment, the authorizer 20 can receive the authorization notification mail even if the authorizer 20 is remote from the location where the authorizer system is actually installed. On the other hand, when the approver 20 is in a remote place, there is no matter to be approved for a particularly long period of time, and when the approval notification mail is not received, whether or not the approval system is operating is confirmed. 20 may feel uneasy.

In order to solve this, in the first embodiment of the present invention, a predetermined confirmation mail is transmitted to the approver 20 and the like even when there is no matter to be approved. Thereby, for example, the authorizer 20 can confirm that the attention mail server 12 is operating stably. Whether or not to send this confirmation mail is set by the input unit 53 in the authorizer setting screen 31 described above with reference to FIG. 4B. In the example of FIG. 4B, it is possible to set whether or not the confirmation mail is transmitted, the transmission time when it is transmitted, and whether or not it is transmitted on Saturday and Sunday.

The confirmation mail may be a blank mail in which nothing is written in the body, for example. In this case, it is more preferable to use a name indicating that this electronic mail is a confirmation mail for confirming stable operation of the attention mail server 12 as the subject of the confirmation mail. Of course,
You may write a document in the body of the email and send it. For example, when the approval notification mail is not sent to the approver for a predetermined period or longer, the confirmation mail is sent to the e-mail address set in the input unit 45 at the time designated by the input unit 53.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The second embodiment of the present invention is a factory automation (hereinafter referred to as FA) of the present invention.
And office automation (hereinafter abbreviated as OA)
It is an example applied to system monitoring. That is,
In the second embodiment, an error message or the like that is output when an abnormality occurs in an FA device, an OA device, or a network provides services such as maintenance or repair of the FA device, the OA device, or the network. Notify the service person in charge by e-mail and make a service call.

FIG. 5 shows a system configuration of an example of the monitoring system according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 5, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. For example, the system monitoring server 15 is connected to the intranet 1 constructed in a company in which this system is introduced. The system monitoring server 15 controls the operation of this monitoring system. The intranet 1 is connected to the internet 3 via the firewall 2. A predetermined communication facility (not shown) is connected to the Internet 3 so that communication can be performed via the Internet 3 in the portable terminal 14 such as a mobile phone device or PHS.

FA devices 16A and 16B are connected to the intranet 1 and / or the internet 3. F
The A devices 16A and 16B are factory automation devices that are operated by computer control in, for example, a factory. Not limited to this, FA devices 16A, 16B
May be an office automation device such as a network device, a server device, or a terminal device connected to a network, which is operated in a general office.
Further, a copy device or a printer device that can be connected to a network may be used. Although not shown, the FA devices 16A, 16B are the FA devices 16A, 16B, 16C,
16D, ..., And many more can be connected.

Also in the second embodiment, the attention mail server 12 'is provided between the firewall 2 and the Internet 3 as in the first embodiment described above.
Are connected. The attention mail server 12 'controls the exchange of electronic mail with the service person according to the second embodiment.

Next, the monitoring processing by the monitoring system of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 shows a processing flow based on FIG. 5 described above. In FIG. 6, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 5 described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in FIG. 6, the intranet 1, the internet 3 and the firewall 2 are omitted.

The various systems 16 correspond to the FA devices 16A and 16B in FIG. 5 and are representative of them. Here, the FA device 16A connected to the intranet 1 and the FA device 16B connected to the Internet 3
Is not particularly distinguished. Further, the various systems 16 are not limited to a single device, but may be an entire system configured on a network. When troubles such as system abnormalities and errors occur in various systems 16,
A predetermined message is output to the system monitoring server 15 and an alarm is issued.

The message output from the various systems 16 is, for example, a code (error code) indicating the type of system abnormality or error that has occurred, or the state of the system abnormality or error is directly expressed by text data. Error message. Depending on the device, the error code and the error message are combined and output.

The messages output from the various systems 16 are transmitted to the system monitoring server 15 (step S20), and transmitted from the system monitoring server 15 to the attention mail server 12 '(step S).
21). Thus, the attention mail server 12 'is notified of an alarm by the various systems 16.

This message is further notified from the attention mail server 12 'to the service person 21 who is in charge of maintenance of the various systems 16 (step S22). This notice is sent to attention mail server 1
Based on the content preset in 2 ', the mobile terminal 14 carried by the service person 21, for example, is notified by e-mail.

Here, when the transmission timing of the notification is set to the regular time described later, the notification is spooled and transmitted in the attention mail server 12 '.
For example, the message is temporarily stored in the hard disk device or the like of the server 12 ', and the message stored in the hard disk device is read and transmitted at a predetermined time set as a fixed time.

Although only one service person 21 is shown in FIG. 6, this is not limited to this example, and a plurality of people may be arranged such as service persons 21, 21 ,. You can Multiple servicemen 21, 2
1, ... Can handle services of different devices.

The attention mail server 12 'according to the second embodiment will be described in more detail. The attention mail server 12 'is preset by the serviceman 21 such as a method of notifying the serviceman 21 of messages from the various systems 16 (step S200).

The serviceman 21 can make various settings for the above-mentioned electronic mail in the attention mail server 12 '. Examples of settings made by the serviceman 21 for the attention mail server 12 'include the following. (1) Selection of device to be serviced (2) Notification timing according to device to be serviced (3) Email address to be notified (4) Specification of transmission contents (5) Presence or absence of display of sender information (6 ) Message length upper limit and action when the upper limit is exceeded (7) Specifying exclusive message

Of these, as the notification timing of (2), for example, it is possible to specify immediate or scheduled for each service target device. Immediately, when the attention mail server 12 'is notified that a message is generated from the target device, the attention mail server 12' immediately sends a notification mail to the serviceman 21. On the other hand, at regular time, a notification mail is sent to the serviceman 21 at a predetermined time or the like, and it is possible to specify every hour or any time.

Further, in the setting of the transmission content of (4), in the notification mail transmitted from the attention mail server 12 'to the serviceman 21, the machine number of the device in which the message is generated, the date and time when the message is generated. You can specify whether to display message contents.

Further, the setting regarding the message length of (6) is made such that the destination of the communication mail transmitted from the attention mail server 12 'to the serviceman 21 is a receivable character such as a portable terminal. It is more preferable to set it when the length has an upper limit. For example, in a notification mail sent as a mobile terminal to a destination, if the character length of the mail exceeds the upper limit of the predetermined character length, a message should be displayed so that each character length does not exceed the upper limit. It is possible to select and set whether to divide and transmit or not to transmit.

The exclusive message setting (7) is set so as not to send the notification mail based on the message due to a slight error that does not require maintenance of the serviceman 21 such as paper supply in the printer. Whether or not to send the notification mail can be set according to the content of the message sent from the device.

The electronic mail address to be notified in (3) can be combined with the service target device selected in (1) to allocate the service target device to each service person. Also, depending on the content of the notification,
The e-mail address to be notified in (3) and other contents can be changed. For example, the service target device selected in (1) may be the same, and the e-mail address of the notification destination in (3) and other setting items may be different.

As an example, by setting different time zones at the notification timing of (2) for each of a plurality of e-mail addresses for the same service target machine, one service person 21 performs another service at night. Man 2
1 can be shared during the day, and so on.

FIG. 7 shows an example of serviceman setting screens 70 and 71 in which the serviceman 21 makes the above-described settings for the attention mail server 12 'in the monitoring system according to the second embodiment. Show. The serviceman setting screens 70 and 71 are displayed, for example, by connecting a serviceman terminal (not shown) connected to the intranet 1 to the attention mail server 12 ′ in a predetermined manner. Based on the display, various settings described above can be made.

For example, the serviceman 21 starts up a predetermined login screen on the serviceman terminal and inputs the user ID and password given in advance by the system to the serviceman 21 to the serviceman terminal. Then, the attention mail server 12 'recognizes that the serviceman 21 is himself and can display the serviceman setting screens 70 and 71.

Service person setting screen 7 shown in FIG. 7A.
0 is displayed first. On the display unit 80, for example, the name of the person recognized based on the user ID and password input at the time of login is displayed. The display unit 81 displays a list of names of FA devices 16A, 16B, ... Which are targets of setting, codes indicating the devices, and the like. Further, from the display unit 81, it is possible to add, change, or delete the device or the like to which the notification mail is sent to the serviceman 21.

The names and codes of the FA devices 16A, 16B, ... Are stored in the system monitoring server 15, for example. Although omitted in FIG. 6, the attention mail server 12 ′ accesses the system monitoring server 15 so that the system monitoring server 15 allows the FA device 16 to operate.
The names and codes of A, 16B, ... Can be acquired. Of course, the names and codes of the FA devices 16A, 16B, ... May be stored in the attention mail server 12 '.

By selecting a device name (device code) displayed on the display unit 81 in a predetermined manner, a serviceman setting screen 71, an example of which is shown in FIG. 7B, is displayed, and various settings are made for the selected device. be able to. By selecting “Common to all devices” on the display, settings common to all devices can be made.

When the device to be set is set on the serviceman setting screen 70, a serviceman setting screen 71, an example of which is shown in FIG. 7B, is displayed. The input unit 84 inputs the electronic mail address at which the serviceman 21 wants to receive the notification mail. The e-mail address input to the input unit 84 is, for example, an address to receive the notification mail when the serviceman 21 is outside the intranet 1. On the display units 82 and 83, the recognized name and the above-mentioned serviceman setting screen 7 are displayed, respectively.
The name or code of the device selected as a setting target with 0 is displayed.

In the input section 87, the timing for transmitting the notification mail is set. When "regular time" is set, the desired time of transmission is entered. As the time, one or more can be input. If set to immediate or hourly, no time is entered.
You can also set not to deliver the notification email.

Items to be displayed in the notification mail are set in the input units 88 and 89. Machine number (device name, device code, etc.), date and time of occurrence of message,
Whether or not to display the message content is set. The input unit 89 is used to set whether or not to display sender information (e-mail address, etc.). When the display is set to be displayed, for example, when the service person 21 has a device in charge of a plurality of companies or factories, it is possible to notify in which company or factory the message is generated.

In the input section 90, items relating to test mail transmission are set. Also in the second embodiment, the confirmation mail can be transmitted as in the first embodiment described above. For example, FA devices 16A, 16
When B, ... Stablely operate and a message due to an error or the like is not generated for a predetermined period or longer, the e-mail address set in the input unit 84 is empty at the time specified in the input unit 90. A confirmation email consisting of emails will be sent.

An exclusive message is set in the input section 91. When the entire message includes the lexical character entered in the text input section on the right side or is included at the beginning of the message, the notification mail based on the message is set not to be transmitted. A check unit arranged on the left side of the input unit 91 can set whether to determine whether or not to include the lexical target, for the entire message or the beginning of the message.

In this way, the serviceman setting screen 7
The setting information in which each item is set by 0 and 71 is stored in the attention mail server 12 ′. As described above, in step S21, when the system monitoring server 15 notifies the attention mail server 12 ′ that a message is generated from the various systems 16, the attention mail server 12 ′ notifies the various systems 16 concerned. The above setting information set by the corresponding service person 21 is taken out.

Attention mail server 12 'creates a notification mail notifying a message based on the extracted setting information, and attention mail server 12'
Is stored in a database (not shown). When the number of characters limit and divided transmission are set on the service person setting screen 71, the number of characters of the notification mail is counted in the attention mail server 12 ',
When the number of characters is larger than the set upper limit value, the content is divided so that each number of characters falls below the upper limit value, and the notification mail is created. The created notification mail is automatically transmitted to the destination set on the serviceman setting screen 71 at the date and time set on the serviceman setting screen 71.

When this notification mail is received by the mobile terminal 14, the serviceman 21 who has read the contents of the received notification mail will see the serviceman setting screens 70 and 71 described above.
Based on the contents set in step 1, it is possible to know, for example, the name of the device in which the message was generated, the device code, the date and time when the message occurred, and what happened in the device. Based on these pieces of information, the service person 21 maintains the device (step S23).

Many current systems (FA machines in factories, servers in offices, printers, etc.) usually notify a related system (hardware) of a fixed message in response to a fixed event. For example, in the case of a (local) printer attached to a workstation in an office, when the toner runs out or there is no printer paper, it is common to communicate with the connected device and notify that effect. However, the message is always fixed and cannot be changed by the user. Also, depending on the device, the message is "number".
Often, it is composed of only "code".

According to the second embodiment, when the attention mail server 12 receives such a message from the device from the system monitoring server 15 or the device to be monitored, the content of the message (title , Attention mail server 1 based on the sender (system name), contents)
2, the transmission process can be performed.

For example, taking a printer connected to a personal computer as an example, it is generally unnecessary to make a service call for a message when the printer runs out of paper. However, for example, when a paper jam due to a special paper occurs, it may be necessary to perform maintenance by the service person 21. Even in such a case, if the paper jam can be dealt with in a short time, there is no need to notify the serviceman 21.

As described above, when the notification timing is set to the regular time, the messages generated by the various systems 16 are temporarily stored in the hard disk device of the attention mail server 12 '. Therefore, in the second embodiment, before the notification by the message is transmitted from the attention mail server 12 'from the various systems 16 in which the message is once generated,
When a message indicating that the error or the like corresponding to the message is eliminated and the state is recovered is output, the message stored in the hard disk device of the attention mail server 12 ′ is deleted. As a result, it is possible to prevent useless notification emails from being sent.

[0098]

As described above, according to the present invention, the notification content and notification timing of the notification mail can be preset by the recipient of the notification for each notification type.
The recipient of the notification has the effect of efficiently processing the notification mail.

Further, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to set the approval notice to the approver for each type of approval. At that time, whether or not to notify the approval agent is determined. There is an effect that can be set.

Further, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the approver can be set so as to send the approval notice to the approval agent, and notify the approval agent of the password. Since it is possible to make a decision by the decision-making agent, there is an effect that the decision-making request can be made from the outside even for a decision made in a completely closed network such as inside a company company. .

Furthermore, the information deemed necessary by the approver can be sent to a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or PHS capable of receiving electronic mail,
The decision-maker has the effect of making the decision without being aware of his / her whereabouts.

Further, according to the present invention, the confirmation mail is automatically sent even if the notification mail is not sent for a long period of time. Therefore, the user should not receive the congestion blood mail for a long time. The effect is that you do not have to worry about the system.

Further, according to the present invention, since the notification mail can be sent at a predetermined fixed time by spool processing or the like, it is possible to suppress the number of communication by receiving the notification mail, which is economical. It has the effect of being targeted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an example of a settlement system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a system configuration of an example of a settlement system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a settlement process by the settlement system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a settler setting screen for setting a notice mail to an attention mail server in the settlement system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a system configuration of an example of a monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a flow of processing by the second mobile monitoring system of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a serviceman setting screen for setting a notification mail in the attention mail server in the second mobile monitoring system of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Intranet, 2 ... Firewall,
3 ... Internet, 10 ... Decision Management Server,
11 ... Draft terminal, 12, 12 '... Attention mail server, 13 ... Agent terminal, 14 ... Mobile terminal, 15 ... System management server, 16 ... F
A device, 20 ... authorizer, 21 ... serviceman,
30, 31 ... Authorizer setting screen, 70, 71 ... Serviceman setting screen

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kazunari Yamada             4-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Soni             -Information system solution             Within the corporation

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail system for sending a notification to a predetermined user using an electronic mail, wherein a type setting means for setting the type of notification content, and a transmission according to the type set by the type setting means Address setting means capable of setting a destination address, and electronic mail transmitting means for transmitting the notification of the type corresponding to the destination address by electronic mail to the destination address set by the address setting means An electronic mail system comprising: 2. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission method setting means for setting a transmission method of the notification for each type set by the type setting means. . 3. The electronic mail system according to claim 2, wherein the transmitting method is a timing of transmitting the notification by the electronic mail transmitting means. 4. The electronic mail system according to claim 3, wherein the timing can be selected from immediate and scheduled. 5. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein, for each type set by the type setting means, a transmission item for setting whether or not to transmit each item of the notification content is set for each item. An electronic mail system further comprising setting means. 6. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein the setting by the type setting means can be set by a user who receives the notification. 7. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein the notification is a notification of an approval request for requesting an authorizer to make an approval. 8. The electronic mail system according to claim 7, wherein the address setting means can set an electronic mail address of a proxy of the authorizer as the destination address. 9. The electronic mail system according to claim 7, wherein when the decision requester cancels the decision request, the notification is sent to the destination address set by the address setting means. An electronic mail system characterized by being canceled. 10. The electronic mail system according to claim 7, further comprising transmission method setting means for setting a transmission method of the notification for each type set by the type setting means, wherein the transmission method setting means The electronic mail system, wherein the transmission method can be set for each of the authorizers. 11. The electronic mail system according to claim 7, wherein for each type set by the type setting means, it is set whether or not to send each item of the notification content for each item. The electronic mail system further comprising setting means, wherein the transmission item setting means can set, for each of the decision makers, whether or not to transmit for each item of the notification content, for each of the items. 12. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein the notification is a system monitoring notification for notifying a service person of a service call based on a message generated by the system and / or device. E-mail system to do. 13. The electronic mail system according to claim 12, further comprising storage means for temporarily storing the message, wherein the electronic mail transmission means is prespecified with the message stored in the storage means. An electronic mail system characterized by being sent at a timing. 14. The electronic mail system according to claim 13, wherein the cause of generation of the message is eliminated by the system and / or device, and the message is not transmitted by the electronic mail transmitting means, An electronic mail system characterized in that the message stored in the storage means is not transmitted. 15. An electronic mail transmission method for transmitting a notification to a predetermined user using electronic mail, wherein a type setting step of setting a type of notification content, and a type set by the type setting step are set. According to the address setting step in which the destination address can be set, and to the destination address set in the address setting step, the notification of the type corresponding to the destination address is sent by e-mail. And a step of transmitting an electronic mail.