JPH02241241A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a transmitted mail from being left as it is in a mail storing part without being given any processing by providing electronic mail system with an absence information registering part and a means to decide whether the transmitted mail coincides with corresponding absence information or not, and automatically sending a replay at the time of coincidence. CONSTITUTION:A mail receiving person A to become absent transmits registration information related to the condition of an automatic answer of the condition of automatic transfer to a mail server from his work station. When the mail receiving person A to become absent is registered in the mail server, the mail processing part 53 of the mail server accesses the absence information registering part 56 and a transferred information registering part 57 when an electronic mail comes afterwards, and when the electronic mail is addressed to a registered absent person, the mail processing part 53 returns automatically a registered message to B. Thus, the transmitting person B of the mail can know that A is absent, and can think out some countermeasure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an e-mail system, and particularly to an e-mail system having an answering function.

(Prior art) Workstations 1 to 1 as shown in FIG.
4 and a mail server 5 are connected to a communication line 6, when a user sends an e-mail from workstation 1 to workstation 4, for example, the user may not be aware of this, but in reality, workstation 1 It will communicate with the mail server 5. The mail server 5 has a mail service function therein, and by executing the mail service function, mail is sent and received between the workstations.

Now, when user A sends an email from workstation 1 to user B at workstation 4, the email sent from workstation 1 is temporarily stored in the email storage section of mail server 5. Thereafter, the mail server 5 responds to the inquiry from the workstation 4 as to whether the mail addressed to user B has been received, stating that the mail has been received. Next, the mail is read from the mail storage section of the mail server 5 and sent to the workstation 4.

In this way, the mail from user A reaches user B via the route of workstation 1 -> mail server 5 -> workstation 4.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional e-mail system as described above, when the destination user is away on a business trip, etc., the e-mails accumulate in the e-mail storage section of the mail server 5, and the corresponding Not only does it not reach the intended user, but the sender does not receive any reply. For this reason, a situation occurred in which the sender thought that the email was being delivered to the recipient, but it was not, resulting in reliability problems.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional device, and when a user is absent, to inform the sender of the mail that he/she is absent and unable to receive mail;
Alternatively, to provide an e-mail system that prevents sent e-mails from being left unattended in a mail storage section by sending the e-mails to a proxy. There is a particular thing.

(Means and Effects for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim (1) provides an electronic mail system with an absence information registration unit and a mailbox that records sent mail. The system is characterized in that it includes a means for determining whether or not the information matches the absence information, and automatically replies when the information matches the absence information.

Further, in the invention of claim (2), the e-mail system is provided with a forwarding information registration unit and a means for determining whether or not the transmitted mail matches the forwarding information, and when the email system matches, The feature is that the message is automatically forwarded to the specified person.

According to the invention of claim (1), when the sent e-mail matches the pre-registered absence information, a message saying, for example, "I will be on a business trip this week, so I will not be here" is automatically replied. This allows the sender to know that the email they sent was not delivered to the recipient, and they can then take some countermeasures.

Furthermore, according to the invention of claim (2), when the sent email matches the pre-registered absence information, the email is forwarded to a pre-designated person. The message can be viewed, and there is no possibility that the email will not reach the recipient.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a mail server used in the present invention.

In the figure, 51 and 52 are a mail receiving section and a mail transmitting section connected to the communication line 6, 53 is a mail processing section that controls sending and receiving of mail, and 54 is a mail storage section that stores sent mail. be. Further, 55 is a registration information analysis section, 56 is an absence information registration section, and 57 is a transfer information registration section.

In this embodiment, the registered information analysis section 55, the absence information registration section 5
6 and a transfer information registration section 57, and the mail server is provided with an answering function.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

Mail recipient A, who will be absent, transmits registration information regarding automatic reply conditions or automatic forwarding conditions to the mail server from his workstation.

For example, as shown in Figure 2 (a), the sender of an email is A1, who is absent, and the sender of the email is B1, whose heading is "Meeting".
When the character string ``I am on a business trip this week, I will not be here.'' will be sent as the registration information, indicating that the message ``I will not be home this week'' will be automatically replied to the person in question B.

Alternatively, as shown in Figure (b), if the sender of email A1 is B and the heading of the email contains the string "Urgent," the email is sent to C. Transfer information indicating automatic transfer is sent as registration information.

Then, the registered information is received by the mail receiving section 51, and is temporarily stored in the mail storage section 5 by the action of the mail processing section 53.
It is stored in 4. Next, the registration information is analyzed by the registration information analysis unit 55 to determine whether it is absence information or transfer information. Then, the absence information is registered in the absence information registration section 56, and the transfer information is registered in the transfer information registration section 57.

When absent mail recipient A (hereinafter referred to as absent recipient A) is registered on the mail server as described above,
After that, when an e-mail is received, the mail processing section 53 of the mail server performs the following operations. The operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

First, determine whether or not an email has arrived (Step Sl
). When the mail arrives (step S1 is affirmative), the mail processing section 53 accesses the absence information registration section 56 and the forwarding information registration section 57, and the mail is transferred to the absence information registration section 5.
6, and it is determined whether the address is for an absent person registered in the transfer information registration unit 57 (step S2). If the mail is not addressed to the registered absentee, normal mail processing is performed (step S3).

On the other hand, if the email is addressed to a registered absentee (step S2 is affirmative), automatic reply or automatic forwarding registration (
or a request) is made (steps S4, S5). In the example of FIG. 2, when the destination of the mail is A, it is determined that the mail is addressed to an absent person.

If an automatic reply request has been made (step S4 is affirmative), it is determined whether the name of the sender of the email matches a registered name (step S6). In the example of FIG. 2(a), it is determined whether the name of the sender of the mail is B.

Next, it is determined whether the specified word is included in the heading of the message (step 3B). In the above example, it is determined whether the specified word "meeting" is included in the heading. If the judgment is affirmative, the mail processing unit 53 automatically replies to B the registered message ``I will be away this week because I am on a business trip.''

According to this automatic reply process, B, the sender of the email,
can know that A is absent and can think of some countermeasure.

When step S4 is negative and step S5 is positive,
The mail processing section 53 determines whether the sender of the mail matches the name of the sender registered in the transfer information registration section 57 (step S9). If they match, then it is determined whether the specified word is included in the heading of the email (step 510). for example,
Determine whether the specified word "urgent" is included.

If the specified word "urgent" is included in the email,
The mail processing unit 53 performs processing to send the mail to the forwarding destination C (step 511).

According to this automatic forwarding process, the "Urgent" mail will be sent to the specified forwarding destination C since the destination A is absent, and the urgent mail will be accumulated in the mail storage section of the mail server. This eliminates the problem of being left alone.

As described above, according to the e-mail system of this embodiment, an absent person can register the fact that he or she is absent on the mail server, and also register the necessary response, which is superior to the conventional system. The above problem can be solved.

If any one of the steps S6, S7, S5 to S10 is negative, the process advances to step S3 and normal mail processing is executed.

In the above embodiment, the mail server has both an automatic reply function and an automatic forwarding function, but it is of course possible to have either one of them.

Further, steps S6, S9 and/or S7, SIO in FIG. 3 are not necessarily necessary and may be deleted. Furthermore, the specified word or message may be any other word.

The present invention is applicable not only to a system in which a plurality of workstations and a mail server are connected via communication lines, but also to a system in which a large number of terminals are connected to one host computer, and the host computer has a mail service function. Can be applied.

(Effect of the invention) According to the invention of claim (1), when the person to whom the email is addressed is absent, a message saying, ``I'm on a business trip this week, so I won't be here'' will be automatically replied. So,
The sender will be able to see that the email they sent was not delivered to the recipient, and can then take some countermeasures.

Further, according to the invention of claim (2), when the person to whom the email is addressed is absent, the email is forwarded to a forwarder specified in advance, so the person on his behalf can see the message. , it will no longer be the case that the email does not reach the recipient.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an overview of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of absence information and transfer information, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram showing an example of a network to which the present invention is applied. 1 to 4...Workstation, 5...Mail server, 6...Communication line, 53...Mail processing section, 54.
...Mail storage department, 55...Registered information analysis department, 56.
... Absence Information Registration Department, 57... Forwarding Information Registration Department Agent Patent Attorney Michito Hiraki and 1 other person

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A network e-mail system in which at least a plurality of terminals and a mail service means are connected to a communication medium, and includes an absence information registration unit capable of registering absence information including an automatic reply function, and a mail reception unit. and a means for determining whether the information attached to the email or the information included in the email matches the absence information, and when it is determined that they match, the automatic reply function is activated. An e-mail system characterized by: (2) A network e-mail system in which at least a plurality of terminals and a mail service means are connected to a communication medium, and includes a forwarding information registration unit capable of registering forwarding information including an automatic forwarding function, and a mail receiving unit. and a means for determining whether the information attached to the email or the information included in the email matches the forwarding information, and when it is determined that they match, the automatic forwarding function is activated. An e-mail system characterized by: