JPH11232188A - Message receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To deter receiving again a message that has the same content as what was received in the past. SOLUTION: A duplicate mail checking part 19 judges whether or not what coincides with check information stored in duplicate check tables 17a to 17c exists in attribute information set to the header of an electronic mail when the electronic mail is received, and when it is judged that it exists, a duplicate notice transmitting part 22 transmits a duplicate notice mail to the originator of the received electronic mail and when it is judged what coincides with the check information stored in the tables 17a to 17c does not exist in the attribute information of the received electronic mail, an SMTP receiving part 20 stores the electronic mail in a mail box that is associated with the address of the receiver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a message receiving apparatus for receiving a message transmitted from a computer connected to a computer network system, and more particularly, to an e-mail once received by a user and then transferred to another user. The present invention relates to a message receiving apparatus having a feature in a configuration for receiving a message.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail is electronic mail distributed in a computer network system. The e-mail system used for distribution of the e-mail is basically configured as a general computer network system. For example, the simplest is for each address pre-assigned to each user of the system,
An e-mail server computer (hereinafter referred to as a mail server) provided with a storage area (spool) called a mailbox and connected to the mail server via a public network, It is composed of a plurality of terminal devices respectively installed near the receiving user.

[0003] An electronic mail is called a message ID.
Unique information is set as identification information in all e-mails. Further, the data constituting the e-mail can be distinguished into a message body and a header representing attribute information of the message. Specifically, the attribute information is information such as the title of the electronic mail, the address of the sender, the address of the receiver, the date and time of the transmission, and the message ID as described above. These pieces of attribute information are set by the mail server when sending an e-mail. Also, the mail server, when the recipient who has received the certain e-mail, forwards the e-mail to another user, adds the address of the new sender, the recipient, the transfer destination at the end of the header of the e-mail. And the originating (transfer) date and time, and a new message ID.

When the mail server receives an electronic mail transmitted from a terminal device, the mail server stores the electronic mail in a mailbox associated with a recipient address set in the attribute information. Then, when the access of the user to whom the address is assigned is received thereafter, it is notified that a new e-mail has arrived. On the other hand, when the user receives a notification that a new e-mail has arrived from the mail server, the user can receive the content by transferring the e-mail to a terminal device operated by the user.

[0005]

By the way, when an e-mail is received by a mail server of the above-described e-mail system, it is checked whether or not the contents have been received in the past. If the content is found to be the same as the one received in the past, a mechanism is provided that does not store the e-mail in the mailbox associated with the address of the recipient, that is, rejects reception. Absent.

Therefore, there is a possibility that an e-mail having the same content as an e-mail received in the past is received again. Such a situation often occurs particularly in a process in which an electronic mail is relayed to a large number of users through a plurality of users. Specifically, an e-mail describing business communication items inside the company is sent from, for example, a department manager who is the sender to a section manager under the section, from the section manager to a group manager under the section, and from the section manager to a member under the group. When forwarded as described, and from the section manager who received the e-mail of the manager,
There is a possibility that it will be handled in two ways, that is, when the information is sent to all employees under the group leader under the group at once.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a process of relaying an electronic mail. The figure shows a case where an e-mail containing business communication items is distributed according to the organizational system of the general manager or lower as described above, and it is clear that the general manager sent an e-mail based on the manuscript to the subordinate section manager. The starting point.

[0008] Reference numeral 1 denotes an electronic mail transmitted to the section manager by the section manager. A is set as the message ID and stored in the section manager's mailbox 2. The section manager that has received the e-mail 1 forwards it to the subordinate group manager. 3
Is an e-mail that the section manager has forwarded to the group manager. B is set as a new message ID and stored in the group manager's mailbox 4. In the parentheses in the figure, the message ID (A in the electronic mail 3) set in the past is described. The group leader who has received the e-mail 3 forwards it to a plurality of members under the group. Numeral 5 is an e-mail transferred to each member by the group leader. C is set as a new message ID and stored in mailboxes 6, 6,..., 6 of each member.

[0009] When the section manager forwards an e-mail 7 having the same content as the e-mail 3 to all the employees under the group manager under his control due to some mistake, the e-mail 7 is set to D as a message ID, and Stored in the mailbox 4 and the mailboxes 6, 6,..., 6 of each member. That is, the e-mails 5 and e-mails 7 whose contents match each other are stored in the mailboxes 6, 6,..., 6 of each member, and their capacity is wasted. The same trouble (e-mail 3 and e-mail 7) also occurs in the group manager's mailbox 4. In addition, when the plurality of e-mails stored in this way are to communicate business instructions, the members receiving the mail and the team leader may be confused in the instruction system, which hinders the smooth execution of the business. You.

[0010] Also, in the recipient member and the group leader,
This causes an extra burden for organizing the received e-mail. Further, since the sender of the e-mail (section manager) cannot be informed of the occurrence of the above-mentioned inconvenience, a device that can make it possible is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is directed to a message receiving apparatus in which the user does not receive an e-mail having the same content as that previously received by the user again. For the purpose of providing.

[0012]

A message receiving apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention has a plurality of spools respectively associated with a plurality of addresses, and receives a message in which a recipient address and a plurality of identification information are set. Then, in the message receiving apparatus that stores the message and each piece of identification information in a spool corresponding to the address, a plurality of tables respectively associated with a plurality of addresses, and each piece of identification information stored in the spool is stored in the spool. Means for storing in a table corresponding to the associated address, and when receiving a message in which a recipient address and a plurality of identification information are set, the identification information is stored in a table corresponding to the address. Determining means for determining whether or not there is one that matches the identification information; and The characterized in that it comprises a means for inhibiting storing the spool corresponding to the recipient address.

A message receiving apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention has a plurality of spools respectively associated with a plurality of addresses,
When receiving a message in which a recipient address and a plurality of identification information are set, in a message receiving apparatus that stores the message and each identification information in a spool corresponding to the address, a plurality of addresses respectively associated with a plurality of addresses are provided. When receiving a table and a message in which a recipient address and a plurality of identification information are set, whether or not there is any of the identification information that matches the identification information stored in the table corresponding to the address Means for judging whether the message is present, and means for prohibiting storing the message in the spool corresponding to the address of the receiver. For storing the address in a table corresponding to the address.

In the message receiving apparatus according to the third invention, the identification information stored in the table corresponding to the address of the recipient set in the message is included in the identification information set in the received message. Means for prohibiting storing the message in the spool corresponding to the address of the recipient when it is determined that there is a match with the identification information, and transmitting a message notifying the failure of reception to the address of the sender; It is characterized by having.

The electronic mail has a feature that the message ID is not deleted by the transfer process, that is, the message ID assigned once is inherited by the transfer destination. Accordingly, although the message IDs of the e-mail 5 and the e-mail 7 in FIG. 7 are different, since the message IDs (A) set in the past match, it can be determined that the contents of the two are the same. The same applies to the group chief's mailbox 4 in which the e-mail 3 and the e-mail 7 are stored.

In the message receiving apparatus according to the present invention, based on the above-described principle, the identification information of a message received by a certain user includes the identification information set in the message received by the user in the past. It is determined whether or not there is a match, and when it is determined that the message is not received, the reception of the e-mail is not performed, so that the reception of a message having the same content as the message received in the past is suppressed.

[0017]

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mail server which is a message receiving apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 11, 12,..., 13 are terminal devices installed near the user who uses e-mail, and are connected to a mail server as the present invention device via a public network. Reference numeral 14 denotes another mail server connected to the mail server of the present invention device via a public network.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a spool set in a part of a hard disk drive or the like, which stores mailboxes 15a, 15b,.
5c is provided. The electronic mail stored in the mailboxes 15a, 15b,..., 15c can be referred to from the table registration unit 16. 17 is a duplication check table 17a, 17b associated with an address in order to store inspection information for inspecting whether or not the content of the received e-mail is the same as that previously received at the address. ,…, 17c
It is a database provided with. The table registration unit 16 receives a trigger signal given at predetermined time intervals from the timer 18 and reads the title (Subject) and the outgoing message from the header of each e-mail stored in the mailboxes 15a, 15b,. The date and time (Date) and the message ID (Message
-ID) is extracted as inspection information and stored in the duplication check tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c corresponding to the address.

On the other hand, when an e-mail is received from the terminal device 11, 12,..., 13 or the mail server 14, it is checked whether the contents of the e-mail are the same as those received in the past. This is a duplicate mail inspection unit that inspects with reference to the tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c. Further, the duplicate mail inspection unit 19 extracts the sender's address from the header of the received e-mail, and provides the same to the duplicate notification transmission unit 22 described later. Reference numeral 20 denotes an SMTP receiving unit that performs an e-mail receiving process based on SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
The electronic mail whose content is determined by the duplicate mail inspection unit 19 to be not the same as that received in the past is stored in the mailboxes 15a, 15b,..., 15c associated with the address.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a title for storing a predetermined title and message of an electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as a duplicate notification mail) notifying that the content of the received electronic mail is the same as that received in the past. A database provided with a table 21a and a message table 21b,
The stored title and message can be referred to from the duplicate notification transmitting unit 22 that transmits the duplicate notification mail based on SMTP.

The duplicate notification transmitting section 22 includes a notification setting table 22 including information for specifying whether or not to transmit a duplicate notification mail, and information for specifying the title and the message stored in the title table 21a and the message table 21b, respectively.
a, and receives the inspection result indicating that the content of the e-mail received from the duplicated mail inspection unit 19 is the same as that received in the past and the address information of the sender of the e-mail, and sets a notification setting table. A duplicate notification mail is created based on the setting information of 22a, and the duplicate notification mail is transmitted to the sender.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the title table 21a, the message table 21b, and the notification setting table 22a. In the figure, the title table 21a stores "duplicate mail" in association with identification number 1 and "transmission mail duplication guidance" in association with identification number 2. The message table 21b stores "duplicate mail: transmitted" in association with the identification number 1 and stores "mail transmitted this time has been transmitted in the past" in association with the identification number 2.
The notification setting table 22a specifies "send", "1", and "2" for each setting item of transmission permission / prohibition, title, and message, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the mail server which is a message receiving apparatus according to the present invention. The mail server extracts inspection information from the header of each e-mail stored in the mailboxes 15b, 15c,..., 15d by the table registration unit 16 at predetermined time intervals, and checks the duplication corresponding to the address. Table 17a,
, 17c (S1). Then, it is determined whether or not the e-mail has been received (S2). When it is determined that the e-mail has not been received, the process returns to S1 and the subsequent procedures are repeated.

When it is determined in S2 that the e-mail has been received, the attribute information set in the header of the e-mail matches the inspection information stored in the duplication check tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c. It is determined whether or not there is something to be performed (S3). When it is determined that there is a message, the duplicate notification transmitting unit 22 transmits a duplicate notification mail to the sender of the received e-mail (S4), and returns to S1.
Repeat the following steps. In the attribute information of the e-mail received in S3, the duplicate check tables 17a, 17b,
If it is determined that there is no match with the test information stored in 17c, the e-mail is stored in the mailbox associated with the address of the recipient by the SMTP receiving unit 20 (S5). ), The process returns to S1, and the subsequent procedures are repeated.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a duplicate notification mail for notifying that the contents of the received e-mail are the same as those received in the past. This duplicate notification email is
When an e-mail was sent from the sender "Yato @ Osaka Office" to the recipient "Ichihara @ Tokushima Head Office", the recipient was already the same by the recipient's mail server which is the message receiving device of the present invention. In a situation in which it is determined that the e-mail of the content has been received, it is created based on the setting values of the notification setting table 22a shown in FIG.

In the header, "duplicate mail" associated with the identification number 1 of the title table 21a is applied as the subject (Subject). In addition, a predetermined address “SysOp @ Tokushima Head Office” is assigned as the sender's address (From). In addition, “Yato @ Osaka Sales Office”, which is the sender of the e-mail related to the transmission of the duplicate notification mail, is used as the recipient address (To). Furthermore, the transmission date and time (Date) and the message ID (Message
-ID) is filled with appropriate information by the mail server.

In the message, "the mail transmitted this time has been transmitted in the past." Associated with the identification number 2 of the message table 21b is applied. Also, following the message, the recipient address (To) is obtained from the header of the email related to the transmission of the duplicate notification email.
, Message ID (Message-ID), Subject (Subject) and Date / Time (Date) by extracting and adding the information to the recipient of the duplicate notification mail, and to whom the noticed e-mail was sent , And what the title is, and also what the time and date of the call are.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another configuration of a mail server which is a message receiving apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 23 denotes terminal devices 11, 12,.
Or, when an e-mail is received from the mail server 14,
The duplicate mail check unit checks whether the contents of the electronic mail are the same as those received in the past with reference to the duplicate check tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c. Further, the duplicate mail inspection unit 23 extracts the sender's address from the header of the received e-mail, and provides it to the duplicate notification transmission unit 22.

Numeral 24 indicates a subject (Subject), a transmission date and time (Date), and a message ID (Message-id) from the header of the e-mail whose content is determined by the duplicated mail inspection unit 23 to be not the same as that received in the past. Are extracted as inspection information and stored in the duplication check tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c corresponding to the addresses. The same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the mail server which is a message receiving apparatus according to the present invention. The mail server determines whether an e-mail has been received (S11), and when it is determined that the e-mail has not been received,
The process returns to S11, and the subsequent steps are repeated.

If it is determined in step S11 that the e-mail has been received, is there any attribute information of the e-mail that matches the inspection information stored in the duplication check tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c? It is determined whether or not it is (S12). When it is determined that the e-mail exists, the duplication notification transmitting unit 22 transmits a duplication notification mail to the sender of the received e-mail (S13), returns to S11, and repeats the subsequent steps.

If it is determined in S12 that there is no attribute information of the received e-mail that matches the inspection information stored in the duplication check tables 17a, 17b,..., 17c, the header of the e-mail is determined. The inspection information is extracted from the address and the duplication check table 17 corresponding to the address is extracted.
, 17c (S14). Then, the e-mail is stored in the mailbox associated with the address of the recipient by the SMTP receiving unit 20 (S15), the process returns to S11, and the subsequent steps are repeated.

[0033]

According to the message receiving apparatus of the present invention as described above, the contents of the message transferred this time and the message received in the past are the same based on whether or not the identification information matches. Since it is determined whether or not the message is received and the process of receiving the same message is not performed, it is possible to avoid storing multiple messages of the same content in the spool. it can. Further, it is possible to prevent occurrence of a situation in which a plurality of messages notifying the same business instruction are received, thereby avoiding confusion on the message receiving side. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the burden of organizing the messages on the message receiving side.

Further, according to the message receiving apparatus of the third invention, when the message receiving process is not performed, the message transmitting side is transmitted back to the transmitting side of the message to notify the transmitting side of the message. It is possible to know that.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a message receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of a title table, a message table, and a notification setting table.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the message receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a duplicate notification mail.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another configuration of the message receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the message receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process in which an electronic mail is relayed and delivered.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16,24 Table registration section 17,21 Database 17a, 17b, 17c Duplication check table 19,23 Duplicate mail inspection section 21a Title table 21b Message table 22 Duplication notification transmission section 22a Notification setting table

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When a message having a plurality of spools respectively associated with a plurality of addresses and receiving a recipient address and a plurality of identification information is received, the message and each identification information are associated with the address. Means for storing a plurality of tables respectively associated with a plurality of addresses, and means for storing each identification information stored in the spool in a table corresponding to the address associated with the spool. When receiving a message in which a recipient address and a plurality of identification information are set, it is determined whether or not any of the identification information matches the identification information stored in a table corresponding to the address. Determining means for storing the message in the spool corresponding to the address of the recipient when the message is determined to be present Message reception apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a means for inhibiting Rukoto. 2. When a message having a plurality of spools respectively associated with a plurality of addresses and receiving a recipient address and a plurality of identification information is received, the message and each identification information are associated with the address. A message receiving device that stores a plurality of tables respectively associated with a plurality of addresses, and when receiving a message in which a recipient address and a plurality of identification information are set, the address is included in the identification information. Determining means for determining whether or not there is one that matches the identification information stored in the table corresponding to the above. If it is determined that the message exists, storing the message in a spool corresponding to the address of the recipient. Means for prohibiting, and when it is determined that the message does not exist, each identification information set in the message is replaced with the address. Message reception apparatus comprising: a means for storing a table of response. 3. An identification information set in a received message that matches identification information stored in a table corresponding to an address of a recipient set in the message by the determination means. Then, when it is determined,
3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for prohibiting storing the message in a spool corresponding to the address of the recipient and transmitting a message notifying of non-delivery to the address of the sender. Or the message receiving device.