Message management system, message management method, and message management program

Abstract

To provide a message management system configured to notify friends or acquaintances of a sender on a communication network about death of the sender.SOLUTION: A message management system for notifying a recipient about death of a sender is configured to: register a recipient address which is an address of a recipient; register at least two of first address which is an address of a sender and second address which is different from the first address; transmit a proof-of-life message for periodically checking well-being to the first address of the sender; transmit, when no response is made for the proof-of-life message from the sender within a period designated in advance, an urgent confirmation message for checking well-being to the second address; and transmit, when no response is made for the urgent confirmation message from the sender within a period designated in advance, a last message including the sender being no longer alive to the recipient address.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a message management system, a message management method, and a message management program, and more particularly to a message management system, a message management method, and a message management program for transmitting the last message that a sender wants to convey to a recipient last.

Background Art

[0002] It is impossible for a person to know the time of their own death, and it is also unknown when it will come. In recent years, people have been connected through online communication such as SNS, but there have been cases where, regarding the death of the parties involved, they are not informed and suddenly lose contact.

[0003] In addition, due to the progress of nuclear family formation, funerals and the like after the death of the parties involved are often carried out only by close relatives. Friends who are connected through online communication that the family may not know have lost the opportunity to convey their last farewell without knowing that the person has died.

[0004] There is known a message management system that delivers a message registered in advance by a requester when the survival confirmation of the requester cannot be obtained (Patent Document 1). In the message management system, a survival confirmation mail is delivered to the requester when a predetermined number of days have passed since the requester's last access date. If there is no reply from the requester, a survival confirmation mail is delivered to the survival confirmor. If there is no reply to the survival confirmation mail, a message is delivered based on the information registered by the requester during their lifetime.

[0005] In addition, in other terminal information transmission devices, biometric information of a target person is read to determine whether the person is the target person. If it is determined that the person is the target person, the size of the target person's pupil is measured by iris death determination means to determine whether the person has died (Patent Document 2). If it is determined that the target person has died, the legacy data stored in the target person's terminal is transmitted to the target person's family terminal.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Document

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0007] In the message management system described in Patent Document 1, when there is no reply from the requester, a survival confirmation email is sent to the survival confirmants pre-registered by the requester. Here, if the requester fails to contact the requester due to reasons such as neglecting to change the email address, the next step of having a survival confirmant other than the requester confirm the survival of the requester is taken, resulting in unnecessary confirmation contacts being sent to the survival confirmants. In addition, the requester needs to regularly access the system for survival confirmation, which is not convenient.

[0008] In the terminal information transmission device described in Patent Document 2, in addition to a portable terminal such as a smartphone, a device for reading the biometric information of the target person and iris death determination means are required. Also, when the target person dies alone, after procedures such as reading the biometric information and pupil measurement by the iris death determination means, the legacy data is transmitted to the family terminal, so it is not possible to respond to the desire to quickly know the death of the target person or to have the target person notify the people around of the death.

[0009] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a message management system capable of transmitting the death of a sender to friends and acquaintances on the sender's communication network.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0010] To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a message management system for notifying a recipient of the death of a sender, comprising: a receiving contact registration unit for registering a receiving contact which is the contact information of the recipient; a sending contact registration unit for registering at least two of a first contact which is the contact information of the sender and a second contact different from the first contact; a survival confirmation message sending unit for periodically sending a survival confirmation message to the first contact of the sender to confirm the sender's survival; an emergency confirmation message sending unit for sending an emergency confirmation message to the second contact to confirm the sender's survival when no response is received from the sender within a preset period for the survival confirmation message; and a last message sending unit for sending a last message including the content that the sender is not alive to the receiving contact when no response is received from the sender within a preset period for the emergency confirmation message.

[0011] Also, when a response is received from the sender within a preset period for the emergency confirmation message, it is preferable that the survival confirmation message sending unit periodically confirms the sender's survival by sending the survival confirmation message to the first contact.

[0012] Also, it is preferable to provide a communication confirmation message sending unit for periodically sending a communication confirmation message to the first contact to determine whether the contact is communicable, and when no response is received from the sender within a preset period for the communication confirmation message, sending a communication unavailable message indicating that there is no response to the communication confirmation message to the second contact.

[0013] Also, it is preferable that the receiving contact registration unit sets at least one of the receiving contacts as a rights holder contact, and when a death application indicating that the sender has died is received from the recipient of the rights holder contact, the last message sending unit sends the last message to the receiving contact.

[0014] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a message management method for notifying a recipient of the death of a sender, comprising the steps of registering a recipient contact which is the contact of the recipient, registering at least two of a first contact which is the contact of the sender and a second contact different from the first contact, transmitting a survival confirmation message for periodically performing a survival confirmation to the first contact of the sender, when there is no response from the sender within a predetermined period with respect to the survival confirmation message, transmitting an emergency confirmation message for performing a survival confirmation to the second contact, and when there is no response from the sender within a predetermined period with respect to the emergency confirmation message, transmitting a last message including content that the sender is not alive to the recipient contact.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a message management program for notifying a recipient of the death of a sender, causing an information processing terminal to execute the steps of registering a recipient contact which is the contact of the recipient, registering at least two of a first contact which is the contact of the sender and a second contact different from the first contact, transmitting a survival confirmation message for periodically performing a survival confirmation to the first contact of the sender, when there is no response from the sender within a predetermined period with respect to the survival confirmation message, transmitting an emergency confirmation message for performing a survival confirmation to the second contact, and when there is no response from the sender within a predetermined period with respect to the emergency confirmation message, transmitting a last message including content that the sender is not alive to the recipient contact.

Advantages of the Invention

[0016] With such a configuration, since the destination of the survival confirmation message is different from the destination of the emergency confirmation message, even if the communication destination of the survival confirmation message is unreachable for the sender, the survival confirmation can be performed using the communication destination of the emergency confirmation message. As a result, it is possible to suppress a situation where the last message is erroneously transmitted to the recipient even though the sender is alive. In addition, when it is determined that the sender has died because there is no response to the survival confirmation message and the emergency confirmation message from the sender, the last message is transmitted to the recipient, so the sender can convey his or her thoughts to the recipient for the last time. Furthermore, since the emergency confirmation message is transmitted when there is no response to the survival confirmation message, the survival confirmation can be performed without imposing a burden on the sender by minimizing the sender's notifications.

[0017] With such a configuration, when there is a response from the emergency confirmation message, the survival confirmation message is transmitted to the first contact destination, so it is possible to avoid the survival confirmation message being transmitted to the second contact destination which is for emergency communication.

[0018] With such a configuration, by periodically checking the communication status with the communication destination, it is possible to confirm whether the sender is in a state where communication can be established. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation such as the transmission of the last message due to no response from the sender.

[0019] With such a configuration, since the recipient set as the right holder can file a death application for the sender, by setting a close relative of the sender as the right holder, the death of the sender can be surely conveyed to the recipient.

[0020] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a message management system capable of transmitting the death of the sender to relatives, friends, and acquaintances on the communication network of the sender.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0021]

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 11

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0022] The message management system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11. When it is determined that the sender 10 has died, the message management system 1 according to the present embodiment transmits the last message created by the sender 10 to the recipient 11 registered in advance by the sender 10.

[0023] The message management system 1 according to the present embodiment makes a determination of the death of the sender 10 and transmits the last message as follows. 1. The message management system 1 periodically sends a survival confirmation message to the contact information of the sender 10 registered for confirming whether the sender 10 is alive or not. If there is no response from the sender 10 to the survival confirmation message, multiple emergency confirmation messages are sent to the emergency contact information of the sender 10 registered in advance. If there is no response from the sender 10 to the emergency confirmation message, the last message registered by the sender 10 is sent to the recipient 11. The last message describes the feelings of the sender 10 towards the recipient 11, the fact that the sender 10 has died, and details such as future funerals, etc. 2. The message management system 1 periodically sends a communication confirmation message to the contact information of the registered sender and recipient to confirm whether the contact information of the sender 10 and the recipient 11 is communicable. If there is no response from the sender 10 or the recipient 11 to the communication confirmation message, a communication failure message indicating that communication confirmation could not be performed using the registered contact information of another registered sender or recipient is sent. The sender 10 or the recipient 11 who has received the communication failure message maintains a state where the registered contact information is communicable by performing procedures for changing the contact information, etc.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1, the message management system 1 includes a server 2, an administrator terminal 3, a sender terminal 4, and a recipient terminal 5, which can communicate with each other via a network 6. The server 2 and the administrator terminal 3 are computers including a processor and are an example of an information processing terminal having a hardware configuration for implementing the present invention.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 2, the server 2 mainly includes a control unit 21 and a storage unit 22. The control unit 21 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that operates the OS (Operating System) stored in the storage unit 22 to control the entire server 2. The control unit 21 reads and expands various programs stored in the storage unit 22.

[0026] The storage unit 22 is composed of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The storage unit 22 may include an optical disk, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, an external hard disk, or a semiconductor memory, etc., which are recording media. Various programs for operating the message management system 1 are stored in the storage unit 22. Note that the program may be downloaded from another information processing terminal capable of communicating via the network 6. A user DB 23, a contact destination DB 24, a contact means DB 25, and a message DB 26 are stored in the storage unit 22.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 3, an example of the data structure of the user DB 23 is provided with a user ID column, a name column, a password column, a survival confirmation timer column, an emergency contact flag column, and a death flag column. Unique character information, which is identification information for identifying the sender 10 or the recipient 11, is set in the user ID column.

[0028] Character information representing the name or nickname of the sender 10 or the recipient 11 is set in the name column. Character information of the password when the sender 10 or the recipient 11 logs in to the message management system 1 is set in the password column. The number of days, which is a period indicating the timing for sending a notification for survival confirmation to the sender 10, is set in the survival confirmation timer column. In the initial setting, the survival confirmation timer is set to 30 days, but it can be arbitrarily changed by the sender 10 or the recipient 11.

[0029] In the emergency contact flag column, a flag that is turned on when there is no response after sending a survival confirmation notice to the contact information of the sender 10 is set. When the emergency contact flag is turned on, the survival confirmation message 31 from the message management system 1 is sent to the emergency contact instead of the survival confirmation destination in the contact level column of the contact destination DB 24. In the death flag column, a flag that is turned on when it is determined that the sender 10 has died without a response is set. Since the user IDs "0001" and "0002" are the sender 10, the survival confirmation timer column and the death flag column can be input. Since the user ID "0003" is the recipient 11, the survival confirmation timer column and the death flag column are "Null".

[0030] As shown in FIG. 4, the contact destination DB 24 is provided with a user ID column, a contact level column, a contact means type column, a unique identification character string column, and a rights holder flag column. The user ID column is set with unique character information for identifying the sender 10 or the recipient 11 by being associated with the user ID column of the user DB 23. In the contact level column, either a survival confirmation contact destination, which is a normal contact destination as the contact level, or an emergency contact destination when there is no response to the survival confirmation contact destination, or a reception contact destination, which is the contact destination of the recipient 11, is set. For the reception contact destination in the contact level column, when the user IDs are the same, multiple registrations are possible by adding a numerical value to the end. The survival confirmation contact destination is an example of the first contact destination of the present invention, and the emergency contact destination is an example of the second contact destination of the present invention.

[0031] In the contact method type column, any one of email, LINE (registered trademark), Facebook (registered trademark), Twitter (registered trademark), Instagram (registered trademark), Tiktok (registered trademark), phone number, FAX number, SMS is set as the type of contact. The types of contact are not limited to these, and other online tools or real-time communication tools may also be used. In the unique identification string column, the character information of the account ID of various SNSs, email address, phone number, and FAX number is set. User ID "0001" has set email as the survival confirmation contact and Instagram as the emergency contact. User ID "0002" has set Twitter as the survival confirmation contact and SMS of the mobile terminal as the emergency contact.

[0032] The rights holder flag is turned on when the sender 10 registers a predetermined contact as the rights holder. The rights holder can apply to the message management system 1 for the death of the sender 10. Specifically, the contact information of a person who can directly confirm the situation on the sender's side, such as a cohabitant, spouse, or relative, including death, is set as the rights holder. Since User ID "0003" is set as the rights holder from the sender 10, the rights holder flag is turned on.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 5, the contact means DB25 has a user ID column, a contact means type column, a last communication confirmation execution date column, a last communication date column, a communication failure flag column, and a communication confirmation timer column. The user ID column is associated with the user ID column of the user DB23, and unique character information for identifying the sender 10 or the receiver 11 is set. In the contact means type column, the type of contact is set in the same way as the contact destination DB24. In the last communication confirmation execution date column, the most recent date when the communication of the contact of the contact means type was confirmed is set.

[0034] The communication failure flag field is set to on when communication cannot be established through the communication confirmation process described later. When the communication failure flag is set to on, this contact destination is judged to have no response, and a communication failure message is sent to other contact destinations. The detailed flow will be described in the communication confirmation process described later. The communication confirmation timer field is set with the interval for performing communication confirmation for the contact destination of the communication means type. The setting of the communication confirmation timer can be arbitrarily changed by the sender 10 or the receiver 11.

[0035] The message DB 26 has a user ID field and a last message field. The user ID field is set with character information unique to the sender 10 and the receiver 11 by being associated with the user ID field of the user DB 23. In the last message field, a last message that is individually sent to the receiver 11 when it is judged that the sender 10 has died is set. The last message is set by the sender 10 for each receiver 11.

[0036] The administrator terminal 3 can change various setting conditions of the message management system 1 and the like. The sender terminal 4 is a smartphone operated by the sender 10, and various notifications from the message management system 1 are sent. The sender terminal 4 may be a desktop personal computer, a tablet, or other dedicated terminal. The receiver terminal 5 is a smartphone operated by the receiver 11, and various notifications from the message management system 1 are sent. The receiver terminal 5 may be a desktop personal computer, a tablet, or other dedicated terminal.

[0037] <User registration process> Next, with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, the user registration process of the sender 10 to the message management system 1 will be described. The sender 10 accesses the server 2 via the network 6 using the sender terminal 4 and inputs information about the sender 10 and the recipient 11. In the present embodiment, the user registration process is performed on the social networking LINE, but it is not limited thereto, and other applications may be used or the user registration may be performed on a web browser. As shown in FIG. 6, the sender 10 registers, as information about himself / herself, name or nickname, password for login, survival confirmation destination, and emergency contact destination. The survival confirmation destination and the emergency contact destination must be different contact destinations. The emergency contact destination is not limited to the contact destination of the sender 10 himself / herself, and can also be set for a close relative, a close friend, or an acquaintance. The sender 10 can also register a plurality of contact destinations and emergency contact destinations respectively. The control unit 21 stores the information input by the sender 10 as records in the user DB 23, the contact destination DB 24, and the contact means DB 25.

[0038] The sender 10 registers information about the recipient 11 who is the person to whom the last message is to be sent when the sender 10 dies. Specifically, the sender 10 registers the name or nickname of the recipient 11, at least one receiving contact destination, the last message to be conveyed to the recipient 11, and the presence or absence of authorization. In the last message, the content that the sender 10 wants to convey to the recipient 11 after death is registered. Authorization means granting the right to apply to the message management system 1 that the sender 10 has died when the sender 10 dies. The control unit 21 stores the information input by the sender 10 as records in the user DB 23, the contact destination DB 24, the contact means DB 25, and the message DB 26. The storage process of the control unit 21 to the storage unit 22 is an example of the receiving contact destination registration unit and the sending contact destination registration unit of the present invention.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 7, the communication process among the message management system 1, the sender terminal 4, and the receiver terminal 5 in the registration process will be described. The sender 10 performs user registration to register the information shown in FIG. 6 in the message management system 1 through the sender terminal 4 (S1). The control unit 21 sends a receiver registration notice, which is a notice indicating that the receiver 11 is registered as the receiver 11, to the receiving contact of the receiver 11 registered in the contact destination DB 24 (S2). Specifically, a URL is sent to the receiving contact, and the receiver 11 clicks on the URL to approve and complete the receiver registration (S3).

[0040] When the receiver 11 is set as the right holder, specifically, when the sender 10 sets the receiver 11 as the right holder in user registration, an explanation indicating that the receiver 11 is set as the right holder is provided together with the receiver registration notice. The receiver 11 approves the right holder registration simultaneously with the receiver registration by pressing the URL. When a phone number is registered, an automatic voice is used to perform the response procedure for receiver registration by pressing the numbers on the push phone.

[0041] When the receiver registration of the receiver 11 is completed, the control unit 21 sends a registration completion notice to the sender terminal 4 indicating that the registration of the receiver 11 is completed (S4). When the sender 10 has registered only the first receiving contact 1 of the receiver 11, the control unit 21 sends a notification destination registration request to the receiver terminal 5 to prompt the registration of the second receiving contact 2 (S5). The receiver 11 registers the second receiving contact 2 in the message management system 1 (S6), and various notifications are sent to the second receiving contact 2 when the first receiving contact 1 becomes inoperative. The second receiving contact 2 registered by the receiver 11 must be different from the first receiving contact 1.

[0042] When the sender 10 grants rights to the receiver 11 after receiving the registration completion notice of the receiver 11 (S7), the control unit 21 sends a URL, which is a rights grant notice indicating that the receiver 11 is set as the right holder, to the receiver terminal 5 (S8). When the receiver 11 presses the URL to approve the rights grant notice (S9), the control unit 21 sends a rights grant completion notice to the sender terminal 4 (S10).

[0043] <Survival confirmation process> Next, in the message management system 1, the flow for performing the survival confirmation of the sender 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.

[0044] The control unit 21 determines whether or not the period indicated in the survival confirmation timer column of the user DB 23 has exceeded since the previous survival confirmation message was sent (S11). When the survival confirmation message has not been sent from the message management system 1 to the sender terminal 4 in the past after the registration of the user of the sender 10, it is determined whether or not the period of the survival confirmation timer has exceeded since the user registration date.

[0045] If the period indicated in the survival confirmation timer column of the user DB 23 has exceeded since the previous survival confirmation message was sent (S11: YES), the control unit 21 sends the survival confirmation message 31 shown in FIG. 8 to the survival confirmation destination set by the sender 10 in the contact destination DB 24 (S12). Specifically, the survival confirmation message 31 in which the URL for survival confirmation is described on the LINE application is sent from the message management system 1 to the sender terminal 4. By pressing the URL of the survival confirmation message 31, it is confirmed that the sender 10 is alive and the screen transitions. When an SNS other than LINE is set as the survival confirmation destination, the survival confirmation is performed by sending the URL by DM or the like. When a telephone number is registered as the survival confirmation destination of the sender 10, the survival confirmation is performed by pressing the numbers of the push phone by automatic voice. The transmission of the survival confirmation message 31 from the control unit 21 to the sender terminal 4 is an example of the survival confirmation message transmission unit of the present invention.

[0046] The control unit 21 determines whether or not there has been a response to the survival confirmation message 31 within a predetermined period (S13). In the present embodiment, the predetermined period is set to one week, but it is not limited thereto and any period can be set. If there is a response from the sender 10 to the survival confirmation message 31 within the predetermined period (S13: NO), the control unit 21 resets the survival confirmation timer and returns to S11 again (S14).

[0047] If there is no response from the sender 10 within a predetermined period for the survival confirmation message 31 within a predetermined period (S13: YES), the control unit 21 sets the emergency contact flag of the sender 10 shown in the contact destination DB 24 to ON (S15). Then, the control unit 21 transmits the emergency confirmation message 40 shown in FIG. 10 to the emergency contact destination of the sender 10 in the contact destination DB 24 (S16). The emergency confirmation message 40 shows the transmission date and time 41, the transmission source information 42, the survival confirmation URL 43, the death mode date and time 44, and the death application URL 45.

[0048] The sender 10 that has received the emergency confirmation message 40 performs a survival confirmation by pressing the survival confirmation URL 43 in the same manner as the survival confirmation message 31. When a close relative other than the sender 10 is registered as the right holder in the emergency contact destination, when the close relative can confirm the survival of the sender 10, the close relative responds to the emergency confirmation message 40. For example, when the sender 10 is in an unconscious state or the contact information of the sender 10 has been lost, a close relative responds to the emergency confirmation message 40.

[0049] By pressing the death application URL 45, the screen transitions to a predetermined web page, and the death of the sender 10 is recognized by performing a predetermined death application procedure. In order to suppress an incorrect death recognition, a plurality of clicks, character input, and other processes are required in the death application procedure. In addition, when a close relative other than the sender 10 is registered as the emergency contact destination and the rights holder flag in the contact destination DB 24 is ON, the URL of the death application of the sender 10 may be described in the emergency confirmation message 40 only for the emergency contact destination. When the sender 10 has registered a plurality of emergency contact destinations, the emergency confirmation message 40 is transmitted to all the emergency contact destinations. The transmission of the emergency confirmation message 40 by the control unit 21 is an example of the emergency confirmation message transmission unit of the present invention.

[0050] If there is a response from the sender 10 for the emergency confirmation message 40 within a predetermined period (S17: NO), the control unit 21 turns off the emergency contact flag and resets the survival confirmation timer, and returns to S11 (S18).

[0051] If there is no response from the sender 10 to the emergency confirmation message 40 within the specified period (S17: YES), the control unit 21 determines whether the number of transmissions of the emergency confirmation message 40 is less than or equal to a preset number of retry times (S19). If the number of transmissions of the emergency confirmation message 40 is less than or equal to the number of retry times (S19: YES), it is determined whether a death application has been made by the right holder designated by the sender 10 (S20). Specifically, it is determined whether a death application has been made from the death application URL 45 included in the emergency confirmation message 40 transmitted to the right holder by the control unit 21.

[0052] If no death application has been made by the right holder (S20: NO), the control unit 21 repeatedly executes S16 and S17 until the number of retry times is exceeded in S19. In the present embodiment, the number of retry times is set to 3, but it is not limited thereto and any numerical value can be set. When the control unit 21 determines that the number of retry times has been exceeded (S19: NO) or when there is a death application of the sender 10 from the right holder (S20: YES), the control unit 21 sets the death flag shown in the user DB 23 to on and determines that the sender 10 has died (S21).

[0053] Based on the message DB 26, the control unit 21 transmits all the last messages individually set for the recipient 11 to the notification destinations of all the recipients 11 (S22). Thereby, the survival confirmation process is terminated. The transmission of the last message from the control unit 21 to the recipient 11 is an example of the last message transmission unit of the present invention.

[0054] <Communication confirmation process> Next, based on FIG. 11, a communication confirmation process for confirming whether the contacts in the contact DB 24 are communicable by a response to a communication confirmation message will be described. The communication confirmation process is performed for all the contacts in the contact DB 24. However, when the sender 10 or the recipient 11 has registered a plurality of contacts, the communication confirmation process may be performed for at least one contact.

[0055] The control unit 21 determines whether or not the period elapsed since the previous communication confirmation message was sent exceeds the period indicated in the communication confirmation timer column of the communication means DB 25 (S31). If no communication confirmation message has been sent from the message management system 1 to the sender terminal 4 or the recipient terminal 5 after the user registration of the sender 10, it is determined whether or not the period of the communication confirmation timer has been exceeded since the user registration date.

[0056] If the period from the last communication confirmation execution date of the communication means DB 25 to the present day exceeds the period indicated in the communication confirmation timer column (S31: YES), the control unit 21 transmits a communication confirmation message to the contact of the communication means type (S32). Specifically, a URL for communication confirmation is transmitted from the message management system 1 to the sender terminal 4 or the recipient terminal 5 on the LINE application. By pressing the URL, the sender 10 can confirm that the contact of the communication means type is communicable. If an SNS other than LINE is set, communication confirmation is performed by transmitting the URL by DM or the like. When a telephone number is registered as the survival confirmation destination of the sender 10, communication confirmation is performed by pressing the numbers of the push phone by automatic voice. The transmission of the communication confirmation message by the control unit 21 is an example of the communication confirmation message transmission unit of the present invention.

[0057] The control unit 21 determines whether or not there has been a response to the communication confirmation message within a predetermined period (S33). In the present embodiment, the predetermined period is set to one week, but it is not limited thereto and any period can be set. If there is a response to the communication confirmation message within the predetermined period (S33: NO), the control unit 21 resets the communication confirmation timer and returns to S31 again (S34).

[0058] If there is no response to the communication confirmation message within the specified period (S33: YES), the control unit 21 determines whether the number of transmissions of the communication confirmation message has exceeded the preset number of retry times (S35). If the number of transmissions of the communication confirmation message has not exceeded the number of retry times (S35: NO), the control unit 21 repeats S32 and S33 until the number of retry times is exceeded in S35. In the communication confirmation message transmitted for the third time, it is described that this contact destination will be deleted if there is no response to this message. In this embodiment, the number of retry times is set to 3, but it is not limited to this and any numerical value can be set.

[0059] When the control unit 21 determines that the number of transmissions of the communication confirmation message has exceeded the number of retry times (S35: YES), the control unit 21 sets the communication failure flag shown in the communication means DB25 to on and determines that this contact destination cannot be used (S36). When the contact destination of the communication means type is the recipient 11, the sender 10 is notified that the contact destination is unavailable. Thereby, it is possible to notify the sender 10 to the recipient 11 that the contact destination is unavailable by other communication means.

[0060] When the communication failure flag is set, in the case of the sender 10, a communication unavailable message indicating that communication confirmation cannot be obtained is transmitted to the emergency contact destination, and in the case of the recipient 11, to the reception contact destination 2 (S37). When the sender 10 or the recipient 11 who has received the communication unavailable message changes the contact destination for which communication confirmation cannot be obtained (S38: NO), the control unit 21 sets the communication failure flag to off (S39), resets the communication confirmation timer (S34), and returns to S31.

[0061] When the preset deletion period elapses without the contact destination being changed (S38: YES, S40: YES), the control unit 21 deletes the contact destination for which communication confirmation cannot be obtained and ends the communication confirmation process. In this embodiment, the deletion period is set to two weeks, but it can be arbitrarily changed by the sender 10 or the recipient 11.

[0062] With such a configuration, since the destination of the survival confirmation message 31 is different from the destination of the emergency confirmation message 40, even if the transmission contact of the survival confirmation message 31 from the sender 10 is unavailable, a survival confirmation can be performed using the transmission contact of the emergency confirmation message 40. This can suppress the situation where the last message is erroneously transmitted to the recipient 11 despite the sender 10 being alive. Also, when no response is received from the sender 10 for the survival confirmation message 31 and the emergency confirmation message 40, it is determined that the sender has died and the last message is transmitted to the recipient, so the sender can convey their final thoughts to the recipient. Furthermore, since the emergency confirmation message 40 is transmitted when no response is received for the survival confirmation message 31, a survival confirmation can be performed with minimal burden on the recipient 11 by minimizing the notifications from the sender 10.

[0063] With such a configuration, when a response is received from the emergency confirmation message 40, the survival confirmation message 31 is transmitted to a survival confirmation contact different from the emergency contact, so it is possible to avoid the survival confirmation message 31 being transmitted to the emergency contact which is for emergency communication.

[0064] With such a configuration, by periodically performing a communication confirmation process to the contact of the sender 10, it is possible to confirm whether the sender 10 is in a state where communication can be established. This can avoid situations such as the transmission of the last message due to no response from the sender 10.

[0065] With such a configuration, since the recipient 11 set as the right holder can file a death application for the sender 10, by setting a close relative of the sender 10 as the right holder, the death of the sender 10 can be surely conveyed to the recipient 11.

[0066] The message management system, message management method, and message management program according to the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the invention described in the claims.

[0067] In the above embodiment, the death application was made from the URL of the emergency confirmation message 40, but it is not limited to this. The right holder set by the sender 10 may also be able to make a death application from a route other than the emergency confirmation message 40 by accessing a predetermined URL.

Explanation of Signs

[0068] 1 Message management system 2 Server 3 Administrator terminal 4 Sender terminal 5 Receiver terminal 6 Network 10 Sender 11 Receiver 21 Control unit 22 Memory unit 23 User DB 24 Contact information DB 25 Contact means DB 26 Message DB 31 Survival confirmation message 40 Emergency confirmation message

Claims

1. A message management system for notifying a recipient of the death of a sender, comprising: a recipient contact registration unit for registering a recipient contact which is the contact information of the recipient; a sender contact registration unit for registering at least two of a first contact which is the contact information of the sender and a second contact different from the first contact; a survival confirmation message transmission unit for transmitting a survival confirmation message for periodically performing a survival check on the first contact of the sender; an emergency confirmation message transmission unit for transmitting an emergency confirmation message for performing a survival check on the second contact when there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the survival confirmation message; a last message transmission unit for transmitting a last message including the content that the sender is not alive to the recipient contact when there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the emergency confirmation message, characterized in that the message management system has the above components.

2. The message management system according to claim 1, characterized in that when there is a response from the sender within a preset period for the emergency confirmation message, the survival confirmation message transmission unit periodically performs a survival check on the sender by transmitting the survival confirmation message to the first contact.

3. a communication confirmation message transmission unit for transmitting a communication confirmation message for periodically determining whether the contact is communicable to the first contact; The message management system according to claim 1, characterized in that when there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the communication confirmation message, a non-communication message indicating that there is no response to the communication confirmation message is transmitted to the second contact.

4. The recipient contact registration unit sets at least one of the recipient contacts as a rights holder contact, The message management system according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that when there is a death application from the recipient of the rights holder contact indicating that the sender has died, the last message transmission unit transmits the last message to the recipient contact.

5. A message management method for notifying a recipient of the death of a sender, comprising: a step of registering a recipient contact which is the contact information of the recipient; a step of registering at least two of a first contact which is the contact information of the sender and a second contact different from the first contact; Sending a survival confirmation message for periodically performing a survival check on the first contact of the sender When there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the survival confirmation message, sending an emergency confirmation message for performing a survival check to the second contact When there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the emergency confirmation message, sending a last message including the content that the sender is not alive to the receiving contact, characterized by a message management method

6. A message management program for notifying a receiver of the death of a sender, comprising On an information processing terminal Registering a receiving contact which is the contact of the receiver Registering at least two of a first contact which is the contact of the sender and a second contact different from the first contact Sending a survival confirmation message for periodically performing a survival check on the first contact of the sender When there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the survival confirmation message, sending an emergency confirmation message for performing a survival check to the second contact When there is no response from the sender within a preset period for the emergency confirmation message, causing to execute a step of sending a last message including the content that the sender is not alive to the receiving contact, characterized by a message management program

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