JPH04836A - Electronic mail repeating device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an e-mail relay device having e-mail response expiration processing.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of method includes, for example, Tadao Saito, E-mail and Group Communication, p. 1035.

August 1988, Information Processing Society of Japan, Information Processing Vol.

There was something like the one shown in 28, No. 8.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of such a conventional e-mail relay system, in which 1 is a communication line, 2 is an e-mail relay device, 3 is an e-mail receiving section, 4 is a control section, and 5 is a sending section. Department.

The communication line 1 is connected to an e-mail system (not shown) that handles other e-mails, and the e-mail relay device 2 receives e-mails coming from the communication line and relays them to other communication lines. used for. The receiving section 3 is used to receive e-mails, and the transmitting section 5
is used to send e-mail to other communication lines,
The control section 4 controls the communication line 1, the receiving section 3, and the transmitting section 5, and performs e-mail relay processing.

Next, the operation will be explained.

First, an e-mail that arrives at the e-mail relay device through a communication line is received by the receiving section 3.

Next, the control unit 4 checks the destination and selects an appropriate communication line. Next, a relay operation is performed from the transmitter 5 to the communication line selected by the controller 4.

Conventional e-mail relay devices are configured as described above, so even if the reply deadline has already passed by the time the e-mail arrives at the e-mail relay device, the e-mail is not relayed to the communication line to the destination. The sender of the e-mail usually does not know whether the e-mail has arrived within the deadline until the response deadline is checked when the e-mail arrives at the recipient's e-mail system. There was a problem. Furthermore, if the recipient's e-mail system were to check the response deadline, each e-mail system would need to be equipped with the checking function, which would complicate the structure of the e-mail system itself and increase costs. there were.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail relay device that can notify the e-mail sender of the expiration of the e-mail reply deadline at the relay stage. do.

[Means to solve the problem]

The e-mail relay device according to the present invention has a reply time limit reading section 7 for reading out the reply time limit of the e-mail, and when the e-mail reply time limit has passed, the sender of the e-mail is informed that the reply time limit has expired. This configuration includes a control unit 4 that notifies the user of the presence of the device.

[Effect]

The response time limit reading section 7 reads the response time limit of the e-mail, and the control section 4 reports it to the sender if the time limit has expired, so that the user can receive the report when the time limit has expired.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the same figure, the e-mail relay device according to the present embodiment is connected to the e-mail 20 shown in FIG.
a receiving section 3 for receiving the e-mail 20; a control section 4 for processing the e-mail 20 received by the receiving section 3; and a control section 4 for transmitting the e-mail 20 processed by the control section 4 to another communication line. , a timer section 6 that provides time based on the control section 4, a response deadline reading section 7, and an arrival time determination section 8. In this e-mail relay device, the e-mail 20 includes a response deadline notation section 20a.
This reply deadline is compared with the arrival time of the e-mail 20 obtained by the arrival time determining section 8, and if the e-mail arrives after the reply deadline, a message is sent to the sender of the e-mail. It is configured to include a control unit 4 that has a process of notifying the expiration of a response time limit.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing details of the operation of the system of this embodiment based on the above configuration.

First, in step 21, various settings are initialized.

Next, in step 22, the system waits for the e-mail to arrive via the communication line. If the email arrives, step 23
Performs reception processing at .

Next, in step 24, the arrival time determination unit 8 obtains the current time (arrival time) from the timer unit 6. Next, in step 25, under the control of the control section, the response deadline reading section 7 reads the response deadline notation section 20 in the electronic norm received at step 23.
Analyze a and extract the response deadline written therein.

Next, in step 26, the e-mail arrival time obtained in step 24 and the reply deadline obtained in step 25 are compared. As a result, if the e-mail has arrived after the response deadline, proceed to step 27; otherwise, proceed to step 29.
Proceed to. In step 27, the sender of the e-mail is asked to
Create an email to notify you that the response deadline has expired. Next, in step 28, the notification e-mail created in step 27 is sent via the transmitter 5, and
Return to 2. Further, in step 29, the transmitter 5 transmits an e-mail in order to perform a relay operation to the recipient of the e-mail, and the process returns to step 22.

Therefore, the sender of the e-mail can be notified if the reply deadline has expired in the relay route before the e-mail reaches the recipient.

Note that in step 28 of the above embodiment, the notification of the expiration of the reply deadline is sent by e-mail, but even if the e-mail that has expired is marked as expired and the itself is returned to the sender, the above embodiment also works. has the same effect.

Furthermore, in step 28 of the above embodiment, notification of the expiration of the reply deadline is sent only to the sender of the e-mail; however,
The same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained even if a similar report is made to the recipient by indicating the expiration date in the e-mail.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the configuration is such that the sender can be notified at the stage of relaying the email that the reply deadline for the email to be relayed has expired.
Since it is possible to know at the e-mail relay stage that the e-mail response period has expired, the sender of the e-mail does not have to wait for the e-mail to arrive at the recipient to know that the e-mail response period has expired. This has the effect of allowing you to know without having to worry about it. Furthermore, there is no need to provide a reply deadline checking function in each recipient's e-mail system, which simplifies the configuration and reduces costs.

Note that the response deadline reading section 7. The arrival time determination section 8 may be omitted by providing the control section 4 with a similar function.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an e-mail relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
is a communication line group, 2 is an e-mail relay device, 3 is a receiving unit,
4 is a control section, 5 is a transmitter, 6 is a timer, 7 is a response deadline reading section, and 8 is an arrival time determining section. In each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A receiving section that receives e-mail sent from the e-mail system via a communication line, a control section that processes the e-mail, and a relay that relays the e-mail processed by the control section and sends it to another communication line. an e-mail relay device comprising: a timer for providing the time; a response deadline notation section that is written in the email and indicates a deadline for replying to the email system; The control unit includes a response deadline reading section that reads the response deadline from the notation section, and an arrival time determination section that determines the arrival time of the e-mail based on the output of the timer. An e-mail relay device characterized in that it has a process of notifying the sender of the e-mail of the expiration of the reply time limit when the e-mail arrives after the reply time limit has passed.