JPH1146210A - E-mail distribution system and computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to function as the system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To simplify the operation of sending an e-mail,
E-mail can be easily distributed to an unspecified number of people. SOLUTION: A client 100 specifies a destination automatic setting process for automatically setting and delivering a destination, and transmits a first electronic mail to a mail server 103. The mail server 103 converts the transmitted second e-mail previously stored in the mail DB 101 into a vector expression and stores it in the transposition file 102, and extracts destination information from the second e-mail, Based on the second e-mail and the extracted destination information, the destination of the first e-mail input from the client 100 is set, and the first e-mail is delivered to the set destination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention makes it possible to automatically set a destination for a created e-mail and distribute it, thereby simplifying the operation of sending an e-mail, and specifying an e-mail indefinitely. The present invention relates to an e-mail distribution system that can be easily distributed to a large number of people, and a computer-readable recording medium that records a program for causing a computer to function as the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art E-mail makes it possible to exchange data and messages between computers using a computer network. This e-mail has been widely used in companies and between individuals with the spread of computers and the development of network technology.

[0003] Transmission and reception of electronic mails are generally performed in the following procedure. That is, the sender sets the destination of the receiver and transmits data or a message. The transmitted data or message is stored in the recipient's mailbox in the host computer based on the set destination. Then, the recipient accesses his / her mailbox and receives the stored data and message.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional technique, an e-mail cannot be transmitted correctly unless an operation of setting a destination and specifying a recipient is performed on the sender side. However, there is a problem that an e-mail cannot be used when the recipient's address is not known.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, an e-mail cannot be correctly transmitted unless a sender specifies a destination and a recipient is specified. If the user wants to send the same e-mail to a user, the user has to check and set the destination each time, and there is a problem that the process is troublesome.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is intended to simplify the operation of transmitting an e-mail by enabling a destination to be automatically set and delivered to a generated e-mail. The purpose is to:

Further, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is possible to easily deliver an e-mail to an unspecified number of persons by omitting an operation of designating an address. With the goal.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic mail distribution system according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a first electronic mail in which an automatic destination setting process for automatically setting and distributing a destination is designated. The destination of the input first e-mail is set based on the input and stored second e-mail and the destination information extracted from the second e-mail, and the destination is set to the set destination. An electronic mail delivery system for delivering the first electronic mail, wherein the second
Extracts the destination information from the e-mail of the second
A destination information storage unit that stores the second e-mail in a vector expression and stores the destination information in association with the e-mail, and specifies the destination automatic setting process for the created e-mail. Inputting the first electronic mail to which the automatic destination setting processing is designated from the automatic destination setting specifying means for outputting as the first electronic mail, and the input first electronic mail. A conversion unit for converting the vector expression into a vector expression, and a similarity between the vector expression of the first e-mail converted by the conversion unit and the vector expression of the second e-mail stored in the mail storage unit. Mail selecting means for selecting a second e-mail whose degree exceeds a predetermined threshold, and based on the second e-mail selected by the mail selecting means,
Destination setting means for reading the corresponding destination information from the destination information storage means and setting the destination of the first electronic mail; and distribution means for distributing the first electronic mail to the destination set by the destination setting means. And with.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail distribution system according to the first aspect, the specific same destination information stored in the destination information storage means is designated and changed. This is provided with a destination information changing means.

Further, a computer-readable recording medium according to a third aspect of the present invention stores a program for causing a computer to function as each means of the electronic mail distribution system according to the first or second aspect.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an electronic mail distribution system of the present invention and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as the system will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an electronic mail distribution system according to the present embodiment. The electronic mail distribution system shown in FIG. 1 specifies an automatic destination setting process for automatically setting and distributing a destination, and an e-mail to which the automatic destination setting process is designated (hereinafter referred to as an "address automatic setting mail"). Are stored in a mail DB 101 (database), and the transmitted mail stored in the mail DB 101 is expressed in a vector expression. After being converted and stored in the transposition file 102 and receiving the address automatic setting mail created by the client 100, transposition is performed by using a search engine (for example, CLARIT of CLARATECH, etc.) capable of performing a search process by the vector space method. Select the corresponding sent mail from the file 102 and select the sent mail Generates an address list for the automatic address setting mail based on the address information of the address, sets the address of the automatic address setting mail based on the generated address list, and distributes the automatic address setting mail to the set address. A network 104 for connecting the server 103 to the client 100, the mail server 103, etc.
And is composed of

In FIG. 1, a mail DB 101 stores transmitted mails already transmitted from one client 100 to another client 100. In this embodiment, the transmitted mail is stored in a mail DB
Although the data is stored in the database 101, the data may be stored in a distributed manner in a plurality of databases.

The transposed file 102 is stored in the mail DB 101
By defining the relationship between a plurality of sent e-mails and a plurality of index words extracted from each of the plurality of sent e-mails in a manner described later, how important a certain index word is in each sent e-mail The vocabulary is indicated by using a vector expression, and a corresponding sent mail can be searched using the index word.

[0015] Specifically, one sent mail is divided into sub-documents consisting of a plurality of predetermined sentences, and the noun phrases serving as the index words are extracted from the sub-documents. The statistical information such as the appearance frequency in the sub-document and the distribution in the entire mail DB 101 is obtained, and each sub-document is converted into a vector expression using the obtained statistical information for each noun phrase. Then, a vector expression of the transmitted mail is generated based on the vector expression of the converted sub-document. The transposition file 102 stores the transmitted mail in the mail DB 101 converted into the vector expression in this way.

[0016] Each index word can be weighted according to the degree of importance in the corresponding sent mail.
Further, the vector expression of the transmitted mail may be generated based on the vector expression of the sub-document when performing a search.

The client 100 and the mail server 103 are constituted by a personal computer, a workstation, or the like.

The client 100 specifies a destination automatic setting process for automatically setting and distributing a destination, and a mail for transmitting the e-mail specified by the destination automatic setting process to the mail server 103 as an address automatic setting mail. It is provided with software (see FIG. 6). That is, this mail software can set the delivery destination address of the e-mail in the mail server 103 without setting the delivery destination address in the created e-mail.
This is transmitted to the mail server 103 as an address automatic setting mail. In this mail software, a process of transmitting an e-mail by setting an address by the user himself can also be performed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the processing of the mail server 103. The mail server 103 stores the transmitted mail in the mail DB 101, converts the stored transmitted mail to a vector expression, and
02, the address information is extracted from the transmitted mail, the address table is generated, and the search processing using the vector space method is used to correspond to the address automatic setting mail 200 received from the client 100. The sent mail is searched, an address list is generated based on the searched sent mail, and the address automatic setting mail 20 is generated based on the generated address list.
The address is set to 0, and the process of delivering the address automatic setting mail 200 to the set address (address automatic setting / delivery process) is performed.

In the mail server 103, the process of registering in the transposed file 102 and the process of generating an address table are performed using the natural language processing module 200, the database build component 204, and the address list generation component 210. .

More specifically, the natural language processing module 200
Is input of transmitted mail from the mail DB 101, and morphological analysis and syntax analysis of the input transmitted mail are performed using a dictionary 201 storing part of speech information and the like and a grammar dictionary 202 for analyzing dependency of each word. , A document set 203 including a noun phrase list for each sub-document described above, and address information including an address and a user name from the sender and recipient fields of the transmitted mail. A process for extracting 211 is performed.

Database Build Component 2
Reference numeral 04 denotes an input of the document set 203 generated by the natural language processing module 200, converts each sub-document in the input document set 203 into a vector expression, and transmits a transmitted mail based on the vector expression of the sub-document. Is generated and registered in the transposition file 102.

Further, the address list generation component 210 receives the address information 211 from the natural language processing module 200, and generates an address table in which the address information 211 is associated with the transmitted mail from which the information is extracted.

On the other hand, the automatic address setting / distribution processing is performed using the natural language processing module 200, the query build component 207, the search engine 209, and the address list generation component 210.

More specifically, the natural language processing module 200
Is the address automatic setting mail 2 from the client 100.
06, and performs analysis processing such as morphological analysis, syntax analysis, and noun phrase extraction using a dictionary 201 storing part-of-speech information and the like and a grammar dictionary 202 for analyzing the dependency of each word, and automatically sets an address. A document set 203 including a list of noun phrases in the mail 206 is generated.

Query build component 207
Input the document set 203, and for each noun phrase composing the address automatic setting mail 206, the appearance frequency in the address automatic setting mail 206, the mail DB1
01 is obtained, and a query document 208 is generated by converting the automatic address setting mail 206 into a vector expression using the obtained statistical information.

The search engine 209 receives the query document 208 generated by the query build component 207 and inputs a vector expression of each sent mail in the transposed file 102 and the query document 20.
8 (a vector expression of the address automatic setting mail 206), a score corresponding to the degree of similarity with the query document 208 is given to each sent mail, and then a transmission with a score exceeding a predetermined threshold is given. Outputs the sent mail list in which selected mails are selected and listed as search results.

Address list generation component 210
Inputs the sent mail list from the search engine 209, selects the corresponding address information 211 from the address table based on the inputted sent mail list, and enters the address list 212 describing the address to be set as the delivery destination. Generate.

Then, the mail server 103 generates an address automatic setting mail 206 based on the address list 212 generated by the address list generating component 210.
And an address automatic setting mail 206 is delivered to the set address.

In FIG. 1, the mail DB 101
And a configuration in which the transposed file 102 is connected to the network 104 alone,
3 may be directly connected.

Next, the operation of the electronic mail distribution system having the above-described configuration will be described in detail in the order of (1) generation of a transposed file and an address table, and (2) automatic address setting and distribution.

(1) Process of Generating Transposed File and Address Table First, in the mail server 103, the transposed file 10
2 and a process of generating an address table will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of generating the transposed file 102 and the address table.

The mail server 103 has a mail DB 101
(S301), and the natural language processing module 200 performs a process of analyzing the input sent mail (S302).

Specifically, the natural language processing module 200
Performs syntax analysis such as morphological analysis and dependency on the input sent mail using the dictionary 201 and the grammar dictionary 202, and divides the sent mail into a plurality of sub-documents, and extracts noun phrases from the divided sub-documents. And the like.

Subsequently, the natural language processing module 200
Is based on the result of the processing in step S302.
A noun phrase list is generated for each sub-document, a document set 203 including the generated noun phrase list is generated, and address information 211 including an address and a user name is extracted from the transmitted mail (S303).

Database Build Component 2
In step S304, the document set 203 generated by the natural language processing module 200 is input, a vector expression of the transmitted mail is generated and registered in the transposed file 102.

Specifically, the document set 203
Transpose file 102 for each noun phrase of subdocument in
The statistical information such as the appearance frequency in the sub-document and the distribution in the mail DB 101 as a whole is obtained as an index term, and the sub-document is converted into the vector expression using the obtained statistical information for each noun phrase. This process is performed for all the sub-documents in the document set 203, and based on the converted sub-document vector expression, a vector expression of the transmitted mail is generated and the transposed file 1
Register in 02.

Further, the address list generation component 210 inputs the address information 211 from the natural language processing module 200, and generates an address table in which the address information 211 is associated with the extracted transmitted mail (S305).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the address table. The address table 400 shown in FIG.
Sent mail ID to identify sent mail,
The addresses of the sender and the recipient extracted from the transmitted mail, and the user names of the sender and the recipient are recorded.

When the user's address is changed, the address can be changed by designating the address in the address table 400 from the client 100. In this case, by specifying both the address and the user name, it is possible to prevent the address of another user from being changed.

The above-described process of generating the transposed file 102 and the address table 400 is performed every time a transmitted mail is stored in the mail DB 101.
02 and the address table 400 are always kept up to date.

(2) Automatic Address Setting / Distribution Processing Next, a description will be given of processing for automatically setting and distributing an address to an e-mail created by the client 100. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of setting an address in the address automatic setting mail 206 and distributing the address.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of transmitting the address automatic setting mail 206 from the client 100 to the mail server 103.

The user of the client 100 creates a mail using the mail software 600, and
Open "1" and select "Send automatic address setting mail". When "Send automatic address setting mail" is selected, the mail software 600 recognizes that the created mail is to be delivered by setting the address of the delivery destination in the mail server 103, and recognizes this mail as the automatic address setting mail. 20
6 and transmitted to the mail server 103.

In FIG. 6, when "mail transmission" of the menu 601 is selected, an address input field or the like for setting an address is displayed. After the address is set in the address input field, the set address is set. The email can be sent to

The mail server 103 is connected to the client 10
When the address automatic setting mail 206 transmitted from 0 is received (S501), the natural language processing module 200 analyzes the received address automatic setting mail 206 (S502). Specifically, syntax analysis processing such as morphological analysis and dependency is performed using the dictionary 201 and the grammar dictionary 202.

Then, the natural language processing module 200
Extracts a noun phrase corresponding to the index word in the transposed file 102 from the automatic address setting mail 206 based on the analysis result in step S502, and generates a document set 203 including the noun phrase (S503).

Subsequently, the query build component 207 inputs the document set 203 from the natural language processing module 200, and appears in the address automatic setting mail 206 for each noun phrase constituting the input document set 203. Frequency, mail DB101
Statistical information such as distribution in the whole is obtained, and a query document 208 is generated by converting the document set 203 into a vector expression using the obtained statistical information (S
504).

The search engine 209 receives the query document 208 generated by the query build component 207 and inputs a vector expression of each sent mail in the transposed file 102 and the query document 20.
8 (vector expression of the address automatic setting mail 206), and a score corresponding to the degree of similarity with the query document 208 is given to each sent mail (S50).
5). That is, a search process based on the vector space method is executed.

The score according to the degree of similarity is calculated by the vector expression of each sent mail and the query document 20.
8 (a vector expression of the automatic address setting mail 206) is expressed based on the cosine distance, and the transmitted mail having a higher score is more similar to the query document 208 (the automatic address setting mail 206). It represents that it is.

Then, the search engine 209 selects a sent mail having a score exceeding the threshold based on a preset score threshold, and based on the selected sent mail, creates a sent mail list. Generate
It is output as a search result (S506).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the transmitted mail list 700. As shown in FIG. 7, the transmitted mail list 700 displays a ranking of scores according to the degree of similarity with the query document 208, a transmitted mail ID for identifying the transmitted mail, and the like.

Then, the address list generation component 210 inputs the sent mail list 700 from the search engine 209, and
Based on 00, the corresponding address information 211 is selected from the address table 400 to generate the address list 212 (S507).

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the address list 212. As shown in FIG.
12 includes the address table 400 shown in FIG.
The address and the user name selected based on the transmitted mail list 700 shown in FIG.

Then, the mail server 103 generates an address automatic setting mail 206 based on the address list 212 generated by the address list generating component 210.
Is set (S508).

Thereafter, the address automatic setting mail 206 is delivered to the address set in step S508 (S50).
509).

As described above, according to the e-mail distribution system of the present embodiment, the e-mail created based on the transmitted e-mail (address automatic setting mail 20)
6) Since the address can be automatically set and delivered to the set address, the operation of sending an e-mail can be simplified, and the e-mail can be easily delivered to an unspecified number of people. be able to.

In the electronic mail distribution system of this embodiment, the mail server 103 stores the address list 212 shown in FIG. 8 in the client 100 in order to notify the user of the address to which the address automatic setting mail 206 has been distributed. Can be sent to With regard to the addresses in the address list 212, for the addresses that the user considers appropriate or unsuitable as the distribution destination, the result is sent to the mail server 103.
You can also give feedback. That is, the user can specify a positive weight, for example, “+” for an address that is deemed appropriate as a destination address, and a negative weight for an address that is deemed unsuitable as a destination address. For example, "-" can be designated. As a result, when the input weight is a positive specification, the weight of the corresponding transmitted mail in the transposed file 102 is strengthened, and when the input weight is a negative specification, the corresponding transmitted mail is Is weakened.

Although the electronic mail distribution system of the present embodiment has been described on the premise that search processing by the vector space method is performed, instead of search processing by the vector space method, search processing by Boolean search is performed.
A sent mail corresponding to the address automatic setting mail 206 may be selected.

Further, the electronic mail distribution system described in the present embodiment is realized by executing a prepared program on a computer or a workstation. This program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, an MO, and a DVD, and is executed by being read from the recording medium by the computer. This program can be distributed via the recording medium or via a network.

[0060]

As described above, according to the electronic mail distribution system of the present invention (claim 1), the first electronic mail in which the destination automatic setting process for automatically setting and distributing the destination is specified. And sets the destination of the input first e-mail based on the transmitted second e-mail stored in advance and the destination information extracted from the second e-mail, and sets the set destination And a destination information storage means for extracting the destination information from the second electronic mail and storing the destination information in association with the second electronic mail from which the first electronic mail is extracted. When,
Mail storage means for converting a second electronic mail into a vector expression and storing the same; automatic destination setting specifying means for specifying the automatic destination setting processing for the created electronic mail and outputting the same as the first electronic mail; Converting means for inputting the first electronic mail to which the automatic destination setting processing is designated from the automatic destination setting specifying means, and converting the input first electronic mail into a vector expression; A mail for calculating the similarity between the vector expression of the first e-mail and the vector expression of the second e-mail stored in the mail storage means, and selecting the second e-mail whose similarity exceeds the predetermined threshold value Selecting means for reading corresponding destination information from the destination information storage means based on the second electronic mail selected by the mail selecting means, Since there are provided a destination setting means for setting a destination and a distribution means for distributing the first e-mail to the destination set by the destination setting means, the operation of transmitting the e-mail can be simplified, E-mail can be easily distributed to an unspecified number of persons.

According to the electronic mail distribution system of the present invention (claim 2), in the electronic mail distribution system according to claim 1, furthermore, a specific identical destination information stored in the destination information storage means. Is provided, the destination information can be changed easily when the destination is changed.

Further, according to the computer-readable recording medium of the present invention (claim 3), claim 1 or 2
Recorded a program for causing a computer to function as each means of the e-mail distribution system described in
By causing a computer to execute this program, the operation of transmitting an e-mail can be simplified, and an e-mail distribution system that can easily distribute an e-mail to an unspecified number of people can be realized. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an electronic mail distribution system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing processing of a mail server in the electronic mail distribution system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of generating a transposed file and an address table in the electronic mail distribution system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an address table in the electronic mail distribution system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of setting and delivering an address to an address automatic setting mail in the electronic mail delivery system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of transmitting an address automatic setting mail from a client to a mail server in the electronic mail distribution system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a transmitted mail list in the electronic mail distribution system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an address list in the electronic mail distribution system of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 client 101 mail DB 102 transposed file 103 mail server 104 network 200 natural language processing module 201 dictionary 202 grammar dictionary 203 document set 204 database build component 206 address automatic setting mail 207 query build component 208 query document 209 search Engine 210 address list generation component 211 address information 212 address list 400 address table 600 mail software 601 menu 700 sent mail list

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first e-mail to which a destination automatic setting process for automatically setting and distributing a destination is specified is input, and a transmitted second e-mail and a second e-mail stored in advance are stored. An e-mail distribution system that sets a destination of the input first e-mail based on the destination information extracted from the e-mail, and distributes the first e-mail to the set destination. A destination information storage unit that extracts the destination information from the electronic mail, stores the destination information in association with a second electronic mail from which the extraction is performed, and a mail storage unit that converts the second electronic mail into a vector expression and stores the vector expression. The automatic destination setting processing is performed on the created electronic mail, and the automatic destination setting processing is performed by the automatic destination setting processing. Converting means for inputting the specified first e-mail, converting the input first e-mail into a vector expression, and storing the vector expression of the first e-mail converted by the converting means in the mail storage means E-mail selecting means for obtaining a similarity between the obtained second e-mail and the vector expression, and selecting a second e-mail having the obtained similarity exceeding a predetermined threshold; and a second e-mail selected by the e-mail selecting means. Destination setting means for reading the corresponding destination information from the destination information storage means based on the electronic mail and setting a destination of the first electronic mail; and setting the first electronic mail to the destination set by the destination setting means. An e-mail distribution system, comprising: a distribution unit that distributes e-mail. 2. The e-mail delivery system according to claim 1, further comprising a destination information changing unit for designating and changing specific identical destination information stored in said destination information storage unit. system. 3. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the electronic mail distribution system according to claim 1 or 2 is recorded.