Relay device

Abstract

To provide a relay device that reduces the sense of anxiety felt by a user when the user receives an e-mail with a plurality of e-mail addresses set therein.SOLUTION: In a communication system, in a control unit 13 of a relay device that is installed at each base and relays and connects each information terminal 20 to a communication network, a transmission destination search unit 13A searches for an outsider email address of an outsider who does not belong to a group from among transmission destination email addresses of a target email based on email data 12A, and if the outsider email address is found, an inquiry unit 13B inquires of a sender of the target email about a reason for sending the target email to the outsider email address, and an email processing unit 13C generates, as the target email to the email addresses of users who belong to the group, a corrected target email by adding the reason notified by the sender to an email content of the target email and requests an email server 40 to send it.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a relay technology that holds an email transmitted from a user to a mail server, modifies the email content of the email as needed, and then requests transmission to the mail server.

Background Art

[0002] In an email, a plurality of email addresses can be set as recipients. For example, there are methods such as listing a plurality of email addresses separated by a "," (comma) symbol in the TO (destination) field of the email, or listing an email address in the CC (Carbon Copy) field or BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field of the email. If a plurality of email addresses are set as recipients, the mail server automatically distributes the email to each recipient. This allows the same information to be easily shared among multiple users, so it is frequently used in business scenarios.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] When receiving an email with multiple email addresses set, users may feel uneasy. This is because the email content and the email addresses set as the recipients of the email are disclosed to all users set as the recipients of the email. In particular, the email content often contains information that should be shared among members belonging to a specific group (for example, the same department or the same project), and there is also information that should be strictly managed in a business scenario. In addition, an email address is one of the highly private personal information that can identify an individual. Therefore, when setting multiple email addresses as recipients, consideration for the recipient users is necessary.

[0005] Patent Document 1 describes a technique of temporarily holding an email when sending an email and then sending the email to the sender first to allow the sender to confirm the email content and the recipient of the email. However, the technique described in this Patent Document 1 aims to reduce human errors of the sender included in the email, and does not touch on consideration for the recipient users at all, and there is a problem that it cannot reduce the uneasiness felt by the recipient users.

[0006] The present invention is for solving such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a relay technique capable of reducing the uneasiness felt by the recipient users when receiving an email with multiple email addresses set.

[0007] There is also a method of sending by BCC so that other recipients are not displayed to the recipient, but this method is inconvenient because the recipient cannot send emails related to the email to the relevant parties when sending an email using this email after receiving the email.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] To achieve such an object, the relay device according to the present invention includes a storage unit configured to store mail data indicating mails transmitted and received by each user belonging to a specific group in the past or the transmission and reception history thereof, and when a target mail with a plurality of set destination mail addresses is requested to be transmitted to a mail server by any of the users, a control unit configured to hold the transmission request of the target mail to the mail server and search for the destination of the target mail. The control unit includes a destination search unit configured to search for an outsider mail address of an outsider who does not belong to the group from among the destination mail addresses of the target mail based on the mail data, an inquiry unit configured to inquire of the sender of the target mail whether the outsider mail address is set in the destination mail address of the target mail when the outsider mail address is found, and a mail processing unit configured to correct the mail content of the target mail based on the search result obtained in the destination search unit and then request transmission to the mail server.

[0009] In addition, in one configuration example of the relay device according to the present invention, when the outsider mail address is found, the inquiry unit is configured to inquire of the sender of the target mail about the reason for transmitting the target mail to the outsider mail address. The mail processing unit is configured to generate a corrected target mail in which the reason notified by the sender is added to the mail content of the target mail as a target mail to the mail address of a user belonging to the group among the destination mail addresses, and request transmission to the mail server.

[0010] Further, in one configuration example of the relay device according to the present invention, the destination search unit searches, based on the mail data, for the unexchanged mail addresses of users who belong to the group and have never exchanged mails with the external mail address among the destination mail addresses of the target mail. The inquiry unit is configured to inquire the sender about the explanation regarding the external person when the unexchanged mail address is found. The mail processing unit is configured to generate a modified target mail by adding the reason and the explanation notified from the sender to the mail content of the target mail as the target mail to the unexchanged mail address, and to request transmission to the mail server.

Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, when receiving a mail with a plurality of mail addresses set, the uneasiness felt by the receiving user can be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0012]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0013] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. [Relay Device] First, with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1, the relay device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. This relay device 10 is composed of communication control devices such as a Unified Threat Management device (hereinafter referred to as a "UTM device") and a Gateway device. It consists of relay devices such as a UTM device and a gateway.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 1, the relay device 10 is installed at each base, relays and connects the information terminals 20 connected subordinate thereto to the communication network NW, holds the mail transmitted from the information terminal 20 to the mail server 40 on the communication network NW upon a user operation, and after correcting the mail content of the mail as necessary, is configured to request transmission to the mail server 40.

[0015] [Principle of the present invention] Generally, a mail (hereinafter referred to as a target mail) with a plurality of mail addresses set as the transmission destination is automatically distributed from the mail server to each transmission destination mail address, and the mail content of the target mail and the mail address set as the transmission destination are made public to all recipients of the mail.

[0016] Therefore, the user who receives the target mail may feel uneasy. This uneasiness is an expression of concern about whether the mail content and the mail address can be made public to outsiders outside the group or whether it is not good if they are made public. Therefore, if the reason for the need to disclose the mail content and the explanation regarding outsiders are conveyed, that uneasiness can be reduced.

[0017] On the other hand, in the relay device 10, when there is a mail transmission request, the mail can be temporarily held before being transferred to the mail server 40, and the mail content can also be corrected.

[0018] In addition, the relay device 10 manages user information regarding users who use the information terminal 20 connected to a local network LN such as a LAN, and can also store mail data indicating mails that each user belonging to a specific group such as a company or an organization has sent and received in the past or their transmission and reception histories.

[0019] By referring to this mail data, it is possible to search for the mail addresses of outsiders who do not belong to the group or the mail addresses of non-exchangers who have never exchanged mails with outsiders among the destination mail addresses set as the destinations of the target mails.

[0020] The present invention focuses on the fact that the uneasiness about the disclosure of the mail content and mail address by such target mails is reduced by the reason for the need to disclose the mail content and the explanation about outsiders, and that the relay device 10 can search for outsider mail addresses and non-exchanger mail addresses among the destination mail addresses of the target mails.

[0021] Then, the transmission request of the target mail to the mail server 40 is suspended. When an outsider or a non-exchanger is included as the destination of the target mail, the reason for the need to disclose the mail content and the explanation about outsiders are inquired to the sender of the target mail, and the reason and explanation obtained from the sender are added to the target mail and then the transmission request is made.

[0022] As a result, among the users set as the destinations of the target mails, the users belonging to a specific group, that is, group members, and non-exchangers among these group members who have never exchanged mails with outsiders will be informed of the reason and explanation obtained from the sender by the target mail.

[0023] Therefore, the uneasiness felt by the user who receives the target mail, that is, the concern about whether the mail content and mail address can be disclosed to outsiders outside the group or whether it would be bad if they were disclosed, will be reduced.

[0024] [Configuration of Relay Device] Next, with reference to FIG. 1 described above, the configuration of the relay device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail. The relay device 10 includes a communication I / F 11, a storage unit 12, and a control unit 13 as main circuit units. Note that the relay devices RA, RB, and RC have the same configuration.

[0025] [Communication I / F] The communication I / F 11 is connected to the communication network NW via the communication line L and is also connected to the local network LN, and is configured to relay-connect the information terminal 20 connected to the local network LN to the communication network NW.

[0026] The communication I / F 11 extracts the target mail requested to be transmitted from the information terminal 20, outputs it to the control unit 13 before relaying and transferring it to the mail server 40 on the communication network NW, and is configured to relay and transfer the transmission request of the target mail output from the control unit 13 to the mail server 40.

[0027] [Storage Unit] The storage unit 12 is composed of a storage device such as a semiconductor memory or a hard disk, and is configured to store processing data and a program 12P used in the mail processing performed by the control unit 13.

[0028] The program 12P is a program that, in cooperation with the CPU of the control unit 13, realizes various processing units that execute mail processing in the control unit 13. This program 12P is read from an external device or a recording medium (both not shown) and stored in advance in the storage unit 12.

[0029] The main processing data stored in the storage unit 12 includes mail data 12A. The mail data 12A is data indicating the mails that each user belonging to a specific group has sent and received in the past, or the transmission and reception history thereof.

[0030] The mail data 12A may be the received and transmitted mails stored as they are in terms of the sender / receiver mail addresses and the mail contents, or may be a list of the sender / receiver mail addresses and timestamps extracted from the received and transmitted mails.

[0031] Note that since the mail data 12A is data regarding the mails received and transmitted by each user belonging to a specific group, it may be acquired from the mail server 40 and stored in the storage unit 12 of each relay device 10, or the data accumulated in the relay device 10 to which the information terminals 20 of the users belonging to a specific group are connected may be consolidated into one among the relay devices 10 and stored in the storage unit 12 of each relay device 10.

[0032] [Control Unit] The control unit 13 includes a CPU and its peripheral circuits, and is configured to realize various processing units that execute mail processing by reading and executing the program 12P in the storage unit 12 and causing the CPU and the program 12P to cooperate with each other.

[0033] The main processing units realized by the control unit 13 include a destination search unit 13A, an inquiry unit 13B, and a mail processing unit 13C.

[0034] [Destination Search Unit] The destination search unit 13A receives the target mail output from the communication I / F 11, holds the transmission request to the mail server 40, acquires a plurality of destination mail addresses set in the destination of the target mail, and based on the mail data 12A in the storage unit 12, searches for the non-member mail addresses of outsiders who do not belong to a specific group and the non-exchanged mail addresses of non-exchangers who have not exchanged mails with outsiders among the mail addresses of group members in the past.

[0035] For example, if a specific group is a group of employees belonging to an arbitrary company, it is searched whether the recipient of the target email includes an outsider other than group members, that is, a person outside the company, and the email address is searched as an outsider email address.

[0036] Also, it is searched whether there are non-exchangers among the group members who have never exchanged emails with an outsider in the past, and the email address is searched as a non-exchanger email address. Note that whether a user's email address belonging to a specific group includes a character string for identifying the group may be used to determine whether the user is an insider or an outsider.

[0037] [Inquiry section] When an outsider email address is found as a result of the search in the recipient search section 13A, the inquiry section 13B is configured to notify the sender of the target email that the outsider email address is set as the recipient email address of the target email, and to inquire the sender of the target email about the reason for sending the target email to the outsider email address.

[0038] The reason for sending the target email to the outsider email address is the reason that the sender determines that it is acceptable to disclose the email content and email address of the target email to an outsider outside the group. This reason can reduce the uneasiness felt by group members as to whether the email content can be disclosed to an outsider or whether it should not be disclosed.

[0039] Also, when a non-exchanger email address is found in the recipient search section 13A, the inquiry section 13B is configured to inquire the sender about an explanation regarding the outsider.

[0040] The explanation regarding the outsider is an explanation indicating who the outsider is and what relationship the outsider has with the non-exchanger. This explanation can reduce the uneasiness felt by the non-exchanger as to whether it is acceptable to disclose their own email address to the outsider or whether it should not be disclosed.

[0041] Regarding inquiries to the sender of the target email, the sender email address may be retrieved from the target email, an inquiry email may be sent to the sender email address, and a reply email from the sender to this inquiry email may be received to obtain an answer to the inquiry.

[0042] Also, when a request to send a target email is received from the information terminal 20 in the webmail method, the inquiry content may be displayed on the browser screen of the information terminal 20, and an answer input on the browser screen may be obtained.

[0043] [Mail Processing Unit] The mail processing unit 13C generates a modified target email with the reason and explanation notified by the sender added to the mail content of the target email as the target email to the non-exchanged user's email address, and requests transmission to the mail server 40 via the communication network NW from the communication I / F 11.

[0044] The mail processing unit 13C is configured to generate a modified target email with the reason notified by the sender added to the mail content of the target email as the target email to the email address of a user who is not a non-exchanged person and belongs to a group, that is, a group member, and request transmission to the mail server 40 via the communication network NW from the communication I / F 11.

[0045] As a result, the target email with the reason for sending the target email to the outsider and the explanation about the outsider added will be sent to the non-exchanged person who has never exchanged emails with an outsider in the past. Also, the target email with the reason for sending the target email to the outsider added will be sent to the group members.

[0046] Therefore, the sense of unease that the user who received the target email has, that is, the concern about whether the mail content and the email address can be made public to outsiders outside the group or whether it would be bad if it were made public, will be reduced.

[0047] [Operation of the Present Embodiment] Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the operation of the relay device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the relay device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an email transmitted and received by the relay device in FIG. 2. Hereinafter, when a target email addressed to the information terminal B (20) under the relay device RB (10), the information terminal C (20) under the relay device RC (10), and the information terminal 30 connected to the communication network NW is transmitted from the information terminal A (20) under the relay device RA (10) shown in FIG. 1, the operation of the relay device RA will be described.

[0048] Note that the users UA, UB, and UC using the information terminals A, B, and C belong to a specific group, and the user UX using the information terminal X (30) is an outsider who does not belong to a specific group. It is assumed that the user UB is a non-exchanger who has never exchanged emails with the user UX in the past, and the user UC is an exchanger who has exchanged emails with the user UX in the past.

[0049] When a transmission request for a target email addressed to the information terminals B, C, and X is made from the information terminal A to the mail server 40 (step 100), the communication I / F 11 of the relay device RA extracts the target email before relaying it to the mail server 40 on the communication network NW (step 101).

[0050] In the control unit 13 of the relay device RA, the destination search unit 13A receives the target email output from the communication I / F 11, holds the transmission request to the mail server 40 (step 102), and acquires a plurality of destination email addresses set in the destination of the target email.

[0051] Subsequently, the destination search unit 13A searches, among these destination email addresses, for the external email addresses of non-members who do not belong to a specific group and the email addresses of non-exchanged persons who have never exchanged emails with an external party among the email addresses of group members based on the email data 12A in the storage unit 12 (step 103).

[0052] If an external email address is found as a result of the search by the destination search unit 13A, the inquiry unit 13B notifies that the external email address is set as the destination email address of the target email, and inquires of the information terminal A, which is the sender of the target email, about the reason for sending the target email to the external email address, as shown in FIG. 3 (step 104).

[0053] Also, if an unexchanged person's email address is found by the destination search unit 13A, the inquiry unit 13B inquires of the information terminal A, which is the sender of the target email, about the explanation regarding the external party, as shown in FIG. 3 (step 105). When inquiring about both these reasons and explanations, they may be inquired about together in one go.

[0054] After that, as shown in FIG. 3, if there is a response to the inquiry from the information terminal A (step 110), the mail processing unit 13C generates, as the target email to the unexchanged person's email address, a modified target email with the reason and explanation notified by the sender added to the email content of the target email, as shown in FIG. 3 (step 111), and requests transmission to the mail server 40 via the communication network NW from the communication I / F 11 (step 112).

[0055] Also, the mail processing unit 13C generates, as the target email to the group member, a modified target email with the reason notified by the sender added to the email content of the target email, as shown in FIG. 3 (step 113), and requests transmission to the mail server 40 via the communication network NW from the communication I / F 11 (step 114).

[0056] In addition, the mail processing unit 13C requests the mail server 40 to transmit the target mail to an external party without modifying the mail content of the target mail via the communication network NW from the communication I / F 11 (step 115).

[0057] Regarding the timing of requesting to transmit the target mail to an external party, by requesting to transmit before and after the target mail to be modified, the deviation of the time stamps between these target mails and the target mail to be modified can be minimized.

[0058] In an application where the deviation of this time stamp is not regarded as a problem, for example, when the external party mail address is found by the destination search unit 13A, the mail processing unit 13C may request to transmit the target mail to the external party.

[0059] As a result, among the users set as the recipients of the target mail, for users belonging to a specific group, that is, group members, and among these group members, non-exchangers who have never exchanged mails with an external party in the past, the reasons and explanations obtained from the sender can be conveyed in the target mail.

[0060] Therefore, the sense of uneasiness that the user who receives the target mail has, that is, the worry about whether the mail content and the mail address can be made public to an external party outside the group or whether it would be bad if it is made public, will be alleviated.

[0061] In the embodiment described above, for the target mail to group members, the case of adding the reason for transmitting the target mail to an external party and for the target mail to non-exchangers, the case of adding an explanation about the external party is described as an example, but it is not limited thereto, and it may be arranged according to the application to which this embodiment is applied.

[0062] For example, when there is no need to notify an explanation about an outsider to a non-exchanger, it may be configured to add a reason for sending the target mail to an outsider only to the target mail to group members and then request transmission. Also, when there is no need to notify group members of the reason for sending the target mail to an outsider, it may be configured to add the reason for sending the target mail to an outsider and an explanation about the outsider only to non-exchangers and then request transmission.

[0063] [Effects of the Present Embodiment] As described above, in the present embodiment, in the control unit 13 of the relay device 10, the destination search unit 13A searches, based on the mail data 12A, for the outsider mail addresses of outsiders who do not belong to the group from among the destination mail addresses of the target mail. When the inquiry unit 13B discovers an outsider mail address, it inquires of the sender of the target mail about the reason for sending the target mail to the outsider mail address. The mail processing unit 13C generates a corrected target mail with the reason notified by the sender added to the mail content of the target mail as the target mail to the mail addresses of users belonging to the group, and is configured to request transmission to the mail server 40.

[0064] In addition to this, the destination search unit 13A searches, based on the mail data, for the non-exchanger mail addresses of non-exchangers who have not exchanged mails with an outsider mail address in the past from among the destination mail addresses of the target mail. When the inquiry unit 13B discovers a non-exchanger mail address, it inquires of the sender about an explanation about the outsider. The mail processing unit 13C generates a corrected target mail with the reason and the explanation notified by the sender added to the mail content of the target mail as the target mail to the non-exchanger mail address, and is configured to request transmission to the mail server 40.

[0065] Further, the destination search unit 13A searches for the unexchanged email addresses of users who have never exchanged emails with external email addresses among the destination email addresses of the target email based on the email data. When the inquiry unit 13B discovers an unexchanged email address, it inquires of the sender about the reason for sending the target email to the external email address and the explanation regarding the external party. The email processing unit 13C generates a modified target email with the reason and explanation notified by the sender added to the email content of the target email as the target email for the unexchanged email address, and is configured to request transmission to the mail server 40.

[0066] As a result, among the users set as the destinations of the target email, for users belonging to a specific group, that is, group members, and for unexchanged users among these group members who have never exchanged emails with external parties in the past, the reasons and explanations obtained from the sender can be conveyed in the target email.

[0067] Therefore, it is possible to reduce the sense of unease that the user who receives the target email has, that is, the worry about whether the email content and email address can be made public to external parties outside the group, and whether it would be bad if they were made public.

[0068] [Expansion of the Embodiment] As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0069] 10... Relay device, 11... Communication I / F, 12... Storage unit, 12A... Email data, 12P... Program, 13... Control unit, 13A... Destination search unit, 13B... Inquiry unit, 13C... Email processing unit, 20, A, B, C... Information terminals, 30, X... Information terminals, 40... Mail server, L... Communication line, LN... Local network, NW... Communication network.

Claims

1. A storage unit configured to store mail data indicating mails sent and received in the past by each user belonging to a specific group or the transmission and reception history thereof, and a control unit configured to hold a transmission request for the target mail to the mail server and search for a transmission destination of the target mail when a target mail having a plurality of set transmission destination mail addresses is requested to be transmitted to the mail server by any of the users, wherein the control unit includes a transmission destination search unit configured to search for an outsider mail address of an outsider who does not belong to the group from among the transmission destination mail addresses of the target mail based on the mail data, and an inquiry unit configured to inquire of the sender of the target mail whether the outsider mail address is set in the transmission destination mail address of the target mail when the outsider mail address is found, and a mail processing unit configured to correct the mail content of the target mail based on the search result obtained by the transmission destination search unit and then request transmission to the mail server. A relay device characterized by the above.

2. In the relay device according to claim 1, the inquiry unit is configured to inquire of the sender of the target mail about the reason for transmitting the target mail to the outsider mail address when the outsider mail address is found, and the mail processing unit is configured to generate a corrected target mail with the reason notified from the sender added to the mail content of the target mail as a target mail to the mail address of a user belonging to the group among the transmission destination mail addresses and request transmission to the mail server. A relay device characterized by the above.

3. In the relay device according to claim 2, the transmission destination search unit is configured to search for an unexchanged mail address of a non-exchanger who is a user belonging to the group and has not exchanged mails with the outsider mail address in the past from among the transmission destination mail addresses of the target mail based on the mail data, and the inquiry unit is configured to inquire of the sender about an explanation regarding the outsider when the unexchanged mail address is found, and the mail processing unit As the target email to the unexchanged user email address, a modified target email is generated by adding the reason and the explanation notified from the sender to the email content of the target email, and it is configured to request transmission to the mail server. The relay device is characterized by this.

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