JPH0548642A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the electronic mail system in which a sender recognizes it that a recipient does not receive a mail. CONSTITUTION:A mail reception section 1 receives an electronic mail sent through a network. Upon the receipt of the electronic mail, a reception marker display section 2 displays a reception marker and informs it to the recipient. A mail extract confirmation section 6 checks whether or not the received electronic mail is extracted by the recipient. When a return date is in existence in the received mail, a timer section 5 sets a timer in matching with date information received by a timer management section 4. When the electronic mail is extracted before the designated date, the timer section 5 releases the timer and when the timer overflows, it is informed to the timer management section 4. The timer management section 4 receiving a notice gives a command to a mail return section 7 and sends back the received electronic mail to the sender through the network.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electronic mail systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic mail system, when a mail is sent to a partner, the mail is stored in the partner's mailbox and the recipient is notified that the mail has arrived. However, the sender could not know how the email was handled by the recipient.

[0003]

In the above-described conventional electronic mail system, even if the receiving side forgets to take out the mail or is absent for a long time, the sending side determines that the other party has received the mail, Mistakes may occur. There is a risk that the impact will be particularly large when the outgoing information is important and has a deadline.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an electronic mail system, a mail receiving unit for receiving an electronic mail sent through a network and a receiving marker are displayed to receive the electronic mail. A reception marker display unit for notifying that, a return date check unit for checking whether the received email has a return date,
A timer management unit that outputs the return date information, receives the timer overflow information, and outputs a mail return instruction,
Upon receiving the return date information, a timer is set in accordance with the return date, and when the return date arrives, the timer overflow information is output and when the timer release instruction is received before the arrival of the return date, the timer is reset. A timer unit for canceling, a mail extraction confirmation unit for checking whether the received e-mail is taken out and outputting a timer cancellation instruction if the e-mail is taken out, and the e-mail received for receiving the mail return instruction And a mail return unit for returning the mail to the sender via the network.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the electronic mail system of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of this embodiment.

The mail receiving unit 1 is connected to a network and receives an electronic mail sent through the network. When receiving the e-mail, the reception marker display unit 2 displays the reception marker to notify the recipient that the e-mail has arrived.

The return date check unit 3 checks whether or not the received mail has a return date. The timer management unit 4 specifies the return date of the received electronic mail to the timer unit 5. If the e-mail is retrieved before the specified date, the timer is canceled.
The timer unit 5 sets the timer according to the designated date and time. When the designated date and time arrives, the timer unit 5 notifies the timer management unit 4 to that effect. The mail takeout confirmation unit 6 checks whether the recipient takes out the received electronic mail. The mail return unit 7 is connected to the network and returns the received electronic mail to the sender via the network.

The processing operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

When an electronic mail is sent through the network, the mail receiving unit 1 receives it (S1). In addition, S shown here means a step.

The reception marker display unit 2 displays the reception marker to notify the recipient that the electronic mail has arrived.
The recipient can read the contents of the e-mail by retrieving the e-mail, but at this point, the e-mail has arrived but the recipient has not yet read the e-mail. (S2) The return date check unit 3 checks whether or not the received mail has a return date (S3). If there is a return date, the email is regarded as a deadline return email, and the deadline return processing is performed in S5 and below. If there is no return date, the process is regarded as an indefinite e-mail and the process ends (S4). Permanent emails are stored until retrieved by the recipient.

The timer management unit 4 designates the return date of the received mail to the timer unit 5. The timer unit 5 sets the timer according to the designated date and time (S5).

The mail takeout confirmation unit 6 checks whether the recipient takes out the received electronic mail (S6). If the recipient has already taken out the e-mail, it is not necessary to return it. Therefore, the process for canceling the deadline return is performed in S8 and below, and the processes in S9 and later where the recipient has not yet taken out the e-mail (S7).

When it is confirmed that the recipient has taken out the received electronic mail, the mail takeout confirmation unit 6 releases the timer through the timer management unit 4 (S8).

When the timer set in S5 becomes 0, that is, when the designated date and time arrives, the timer unit 5 notifies the timer management unit 4 to that effect. The timer management unit 4 checks whether the notification from the timer unit 5 has arrived, that is, whether the timer has reached 0 (S9).

If the timer has reached 0, the process of returning an electronic mail is performed in S11 and below, and if the timer has not reached 0, the process returns to S6 (S10). Below, from S6 to S1
Repeat 0. The condition for ending this repetition is either that the recipient retrieves the electronic mail or that the timer becomes 0.

The mail return unit 7 is connected to the network and returns the received electronic mail to the sender via the network (S11).

[0018]

As described above, in the electronic mail system of the present invention, when the recipient does not take out the received electronic mail, the electronic mail system automatically operates by the deadline indicated by the return date attached to the electronic mail. Since it is returned, the sender can know that the recipient did not receive the mail, and there is an effect that it is possible to eliminate the misunderstanding between them.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Email Receiving Section 2 Receiving Marker Display Section 3 Return Date Checking Section 4 Timer Management Section 5 Timer Section 6 Email Extraction Confirmation Section 7 Email Return Section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic mail system, a mail receiving unit for receiving an electronic mail sent through a network, a receiving marker display unit for displaying a receiving marker and notifying that the electronic mail has arrived, A return date check unit that checks whether the received email has a return date, a timer management unit that outputs the return date information and receives a timer overflow information, and outputs a mail return instruction, and a return date information Upon receipt, the timer is set according to the return date, the timer overflow information is output when the return date arrives, and the timer unit releases the timer when the timer release instruction is received before the arrival of the return date. And if the received email is retrieved and then retrieved And a mail return unit for receiving the mail return instruction and returning the received electronic mail to the sender via the network. E-mail system to do.