Mail system and relay device

Abstract

To match the delivery state of outside mails and the delivery state of inside mails even when only the outside mails in a broadcast mail are temporarily held in a mail processing apparatus.SOLUTION: When transmission of a broadcast mail including both inside users and outside users as destinations is requested from an information terminal 20, a mail processing apparatus 30 holds outside mails, and a relay device 10 sets a limit of transfer to the information terminal related to inside mails. When determining that the holding of the outside mails is canceled in the mail processing apparatus 30, the relay device cancels the limit of transfer related to the inside mails corresponding to the outside mails for which the holding is canceled.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a mail holding technology for temporarily holding mail for which a transmission request has been made. [Background technology]

[0002] Some email systems that process emails exchanged by users belonging to a specific group in a company or organization have a function that temporarily holds emails requested by internal users belonging to the group but addressed to external users, allowing the sender to double-check for errors in the destination email address, attachments, etc. before requesting relay (send request) of the email to a mail server on the communication network.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a mail system that temporarily holds external mail addressed to external users and returns the external mail only to the sender user so that the sender user can reconfirm the content. This allows the sender user to reconfirm the content of the returned external mail in the same way as with received mail addressed to the sender user, and if there are no errors, they can simply instruct the mail system to send it, or if there are errors, they can cancel the transmission and send a new email with the corrections. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-277976 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In a mail system that applies the mail holding technology described in Patent Document 1, external mail addressed to external users is temporarily held, but internal mail addressed to internal users is not held. This is because the frequency of internal mail transmissions is high, and the processing and storage space required for holding mail becomes enormous, causing an increase in the cost of the entire mail system. On the other hand, emails sent by a user include broadcast emails with multiple different email addresses set as destinations, and in such cases, the destinations can include not only external users but also internal users.

[0006] Therefore, in a mail system that applies the mail holding technology described in the aforementioned Patent Document 1, in the case of a broadcast mail that includes both external users and internal users as recipients, the external mail addressed to the external users is temporarily held. However, the internal mail addressed to the internal users is not held but is sent immediately, which causes a problem in that the mail holding process for the external mail and the internal mail is inconsistent.

[0007] Therefore, if the sender user finds an error in the email content after checking it and cancels the sending of the email, the external email will be canceled, but the internal email containing the error will be spread to internal users. Also, even if there is no error, the internal email will be delivered before the external email, which can cause a difference in delivery timing between the external email and the internal email, which can cause problems such as discrepancies between the external users and internal users who are the recipients of the mass email.

[0008] The present invention is intended to solve such problems and aims to provide a mail system that can match the delivery status of external mail and internal mail even when only external mail among broadcast mails is temporarily held in a mail processing device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to achieve this object, the mail system of the present invention comprises a mail processing device configured to process mail exchanged by internal users belonging to a specified group and to make a request to a mail server to send mail, and a relay device configured to relay and forward to the mail processing device requests for sending and receiving mail from the information terminals of the internal users connected thereto, and to relay and forward mail delivered from the mail processing device to the information terminals, wherein the mail processing device is configured, when the relay device requests the sending of a broadcast mail whose destinations include the internal users and external users other than the internal users, to suspend the request to the mail server to send the external mail addressed to the external users, and to release the suspension of the transmission request to the mail server in response to an instruction from the sender of the broadcast mail, and when the relay device receives a request to send the broadcast mail from the information terminal, to set a forwarding restriction to the information terminal of the internal mail addressed to the internal user, and when it determines that the suspension of the external mail has been released, to release the forwarding restriction of the internal mail corresponding to the external mail whose suspension has been released.

[0010] In addition, in one configuration example of the above mail system, when a request to send the mass mail is made from the information terminal, the relay device is configured to send a request to send the mass mail with the destination of a specified external user added to the mail processing device, and to determine that the hold on the external mail has been released based on the fact that the mass mail has been sent to the destination of the specified external user.

[0011] In addition, in one configuration example of the above mail system, the relay device stores identification information of the internal mail for which a forwarding restriction to the information terminal has been set, and if the identification information of the mail sent from the mail processing device matches the stored identification information, the relay device is configured not to relay the mail to the information terminal.

[0012] In addition, in one configuration example of the above mail system, the relay device is configured to lift the forwarding restriction on the internal mail when a predetermined time has elapsed after starting the forwarding restriction to the information terminal. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, even in the case of a broadcast email addressed to both external users and internal users, the delivery status of the external email and the internal email can be made to match. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mail system according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the relay device according to this embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the mail system according to this embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram (continued) showing the operation of the mail system according to the present embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram (continued) showing the operation of the mail system according to the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. [Present embodiment] First, a mail system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

[0016] As shown in Figure 1, this mail system 1 is connected to a communication network NW such as the Internet, and processes mail exchanged by internal users belonging to a specific group such as a company or organization by sending and receiving messages for mail processing between the system and a mail server 40 on the communication network NW.

[0017] The mail system 1 is mainly composed of a relay device 10, a mail processing device 30, and a mail checking device 50.

[0018] [Repeater] The relay device 10 consists of a relay device such as a Unified Threat Management (UTM) device or a gateway device connected to the mail processing device 30 via a communication line L1, and is configured to relay and connect the information terminals 20 of internal users connected thereunder via a local communication network LAN to the communication network NW side.

[0019] The relay device 10 is configured to relay and transfer a request for sending and receiving a mail from the information terminal 20 to the mail processing device 30, and also to relay and transfer a mail delivered from the mail processing device 30 to the information terminal 20.

[0020] [Mail processing device] The mail processing device 30 consists of a server device connected to the communication network NW via a communication line L2, and is configured to process mail exchanged between users within the department by operating an information terminal 20 connected under the relay device 10.

[0021] In this embodiment, when a request to send a broadcast email containing internal users and external users other than internal users is received from the information terminal 20, the email processing device 30 is configured to immediately request the email server 40 to send the internal emails addressed to the internal users.

[0022] In addition, the mail processing device 30 is configured to temporarily suspend a request to send to the mail server 40 for an external mail addressed to an external user, notify the sender of the external mail to check the contents of the external mail, and, in response to instructions from the sender user, request the mail server 40 to send the external mail or cancel the sending of the external mail.

[0023] Furthermore, the mail processing device 30 is configured to cancel the sending of the outside mail when a predetermined length of time has elapsed since the start of the hold, and to delete the outside mail on hold in response to the cancellation of the sending.

[0024] [Email confirmation device] The mail confirmation device 50 is generally composed of a general mail server or mail processing device connected to the communication network NW, and is configured to receive external mail requested for relay (send request) from the mail processing device 30, and to return a reception response indicating whether or not the specified external mail has been received in response to the reception request from the relay device 10.

[0025] The function of the mail checking device 50 may be realized in the mail server 40 or the mail processing device 30.

[0026] [Principle of the present invention] In the mail system 1 shown in FIG. 1, when a request is made from an information terminal 20 to send a broadcast mail whose destinations include internal users and external users other than internal users, the request is relayed and forwarded to a mail processing device 30 via a relay device 10.

[0027] After this, the mail processing device 30 temporarily puts on hold the relay request (send request) to the mail server 40 for external mail, and sends a relay request (send request) to the mail server 40 for internal mail only.

[0028] As a result, the mail server 40 requests the mail processing device 30 to relay (requests transmission of) the internal mail, and the internal mail is stored in the mail processing device 30.

[0029] After that, when a reception request is made from the information terminal 20 of the internal user who is the destination, only the internal mail is returned from the mail processing device 30, and only the internal user receives the broadcast mail while the external mail is temporarily held.

[0030] Here, the relay device 10 relays and transfers the broadcast mail requested to be sent from the information terminal 20 to the mail processing device 30, and therefore can identify the internal mail corresponding to the broadcast mail.

[0031] Furthermore, since the internal mail delivered from the mail processing device 30 is relayed to the information terminal 20 via the relay device 10, it is possible to control the transfer of the internal mail to the information terminal 20.

[0032] In this invention, taking note of the characteristics of the mail retention process that are unique to such a mail system 1, when a request to send a broadcast mail containing both internal and external users as recipients is made from an information terminal 20, the relay device 10 starts restricting the forwarding of the internal mail corresponding to that broadcast mail to the information terminal 20, and when the hold on the external mail is released in the mail processing device 30, the forwarding restriction on the internal mail is released.

[0033] In addition, the connection configuration between the relay device 10 in this embodiment and the mail processing device 30, mail server 40, and mail checking device 50 is not limited to this, and may be changed as appropriate depending on the application that operates the relay device 10.

[0034] [Repeater] Next, the configuration of the relay device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the relay device 10 includes a communication I / F 11, a storage unit 12, and a control unit 13 as main processing units.

[0035] [Communication I / F] The communication I / F 11 is connected to the mail processing device 30 via the communication line L1 and is configured to relay and connect the information terminal 20 connected to the local communication network LAN to the communication network NW via the mail processing device 30.

[0036] In addition, the communication I / F 11 is configured to take in a mail sending request from the information terminal 20 and output it to the control unit 13, and relay the mail sending request output from the control unit 13 to the mail processing device 30, and is configured to take in a mail reception response from the mail processing device 30 and output it to the control unit 13, and relay the mail reception response output from the control unit 13 to the information terminal 20.

[0037] [Storage] The storage unit 12 is generally made up of a storage device such as a semiconductor memory or a hard disk, and is configured to store various data and programs 12P used in the mail reservation process in the control unit 13.

[0038] The program 12P is a program that realizes various processing units that execute mail holding processing in the control unit 13 by cooperating with the CPU of the control unit 13. The program 12P is read from an external device or a recording medium (neither of which is shown) and stored in the storage unit 12 in advance.

[0039] The main data stored in the storage unit 12 is mail identification information 12A.

[0040] [Email Identification Information] The mail identification information 12A is data for identifying a broadcast mail and an internal mail corresponding to the broadcast mail, such as a message ID included in the broadcast mail, and is extracted from the broadcast mail by the relay processing unit 13A and stored in the memory unit 12.

[0041] [Control Unit] The control unit 13 has a CPU and its peripheral units, and is configured to realize various processing units that execute mail holding processing in the control unit 13 by having the program 12P of the storage unit 12 and the CPU work together.

[0042] The main processing units realized by the control unit 13 include a relay processing unit 13A, a transfer control unit 13B, and a hold processing unit 13C.

[0043] [Relay Processing Unit] The relay processing unit 13A is configured to relay and connect the information terminal 20 to the communication network NW side by controlling the communication I / F 11, relay and forward email sending and receiving requests from the information terminal 20 to the email processing device 30, and relay and forward emails delivered from the email processing device 30 to the information terminal 20.

[0044] [Transfer control section] The transfer control unit 13B is configured to check the email included in the transmission request imported by the communication I / F 11, and if the email is a broadcast email that includes both internal and external users as recipients, extract email identification information 12A from the email and store it in the memory unit 12, add the email address of the email confirmation device 50 as the recipient of the broadcast email, output a request to send the broadcast email to the communication I / F 11, set a transfer restriction to the information terminal 20 for the internal email that matches the email identification information 12A, and start the transfer restriction.

[0045] In addition, the transfer control unit 13B is configured to send a request to receive external email corresponding to the email identification information 12A to the email confirmation device 50 during the transfer restriction, and if the reception response from the email confirmation device 50 indicates that "corresponding external email has not been received," continue the transfer restriction on the corresponding internal email.

[0046] On the other hand, the transfer control unit 13B is configured to cancel the transfer restriction on the corresponding internal email when the reception response from the email check device 50 indicates that "the corresponding external email has been received."

[0047] Also, during the forwarding restriction, the forwarding restriction on the corresponding internal email may be lifted in accordance with the lapse of the holding period of the external email in the email processing device 30.

[0048] The transfer control unit 13B is configured to delete the mail identification information 12A of the internal mail in response to the removal of the transfer restriction.

[0049] [Holding Processing Unit] When a receiving request from the mail processing device 30 is received via the communication I / F 11 during forwarding restriction, the hold processing unit 13C is configured to check the mail identification information of the mail contained in the receiving request, and if it matches the mail identification information 12A in the memory unit 12, to prohibit the forwarding of the internal mail to the information terminal 20.

[0050] In addition, when the forwarding restriction is lifted and an internal email from the email processing device 30 is received by the communication I / F 11, the hold processing unit 13C is configured to forward the internal email to the information terminal 20 via the communication I / F 11.

[0051] [Operation of this embodiment] Next, the operation of the mail system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams of Figures 3 to 5. Here, a case will be described in which an internal user's information terminal A requests transmission of a broadcast mail addressed to an internal user's information terminal B and an external user's information terminal X (60) connected to the communication network NW.

[0052] As shown in FIG. 3, when a request to send an email is sent from an internal user's information terminal A (20) via the local network LAN (step 100), the relay device 10 receives the request via the communication I / F 11, and the transfer control unit 13B of the control unit 13 checks the email included in the request (step 101).

[0053] If the mail is a broadcast mail addressed to the information terminal B (20) of an internal user and the information terminal X (60) of an external user connected to the communication network NW, the transfer control unit 13B acquires the mail identification information 12A from the broadcast mail and stores it in the memory unit 12 (step 102).

[0054] Here, the email address of the email confirmation device 50 is added to the destination of the broadcast email, for example, in an item such as BCC (step 103), and a forwarding restriction to the information terminal 20 of the internal email corresponding to the broadcast email is initiated (step 104).

[0055] Thereafter, the transfer control unit 13B outputs a request to send the broadcast mail to the communication I / F 11, thereby transferring the broadcast mail to the mail processing device 30 via the communication line L1 (step 110).

[0056] When a transmission request is forwarded from the relay device 10, the mail processing device 30 checks the destination of the mail contained in the transmission request, and if the address of an internal user belonging to the group to be processed is included, it forwards a relay request (transmission request) for the internal mail addressed to that internal user from the communication line L2 via the communication network NW to the mail server 40 (step 111).

[0057] Furthermore, if the address of an external user other than an internal user belonging to the group to be processed is included, the mail processing device 30 temporarily suspends the relay request (send request) for the external mail addressed to the external user (step 112), and notifies the sender of the external mail (here, information terminal A) to check the contents of the external mail (step 113).

[0058] The confirmation of the contents of this external email may be notified by email, but may also be configured so that the sender user is notified on the screen of an application such as an email client or browser running on information terminal A.

[0059] After that, when the mail processing device 30 receives a relay request (send request) for an internal mail addressed to information terminal B from the mail server 40 via the communication network NW and communication line L2 (step 115), it stores the internal mail (step 116).

[0060] Next, when the reception request from information terminal B is transferred from relay device 10 (step 120), mail processing device 30 delivers the stored internal mail addressed to information terminal B to relay device 10 by receiving the mail (step 121).

[0061] When a receipt response to the mail is sent from the mail processing device 30, the relay device 10 receives the receipt response via the communication I / F 11, and the hold processing unit 13C of the control unit 13 checks the mail included in the receipt response.

[0062] Here, if the mail identification information of the mail matches the mail identification information 12A in the memory unit 12 (step 122), the transfer of the internal mail to information terminal B is prohibited, and a reception response indicating "not received" is transferred from communication I / F 11 to information terminal B via the local communication network LAN (step 123).

[0063] As a result, when an external mail is temporarily held in the mail processing device 30, the internal mail corresponding to the held external mail is also prohibited from being transferred by the relay device 10, and delivery to the information terminal B can be avoided.

[0064] After this, as shown in FIG. 4, when the mail processing device 30 receives a transmission cancellation for the external mail from the sender user's information terminal A via the relay device 10 (step 130), it deletes the external mail that is temporarily stored (step 131).

[0065] After starting the forwarding restriction in step 104, the forwarding control unit 13B of the relay device 10 sends a reception request to confirm the reception of the external email from the communication line L2 via the communication network NW to the email confirmation device 50 (step 140).

[0066] If the reception response from the mail check device 50 indicates "no reception", the transfer control unit 13B of the relay device 10 continues to restrict the transfer of internal mail because no external mail has been sent (step 141).

[0067] Furthermore, if the holding period for an external email in the email processing device 30 has elapsed during the forwarding restriction (step 145), the forwarding control unit 13B accordingly deletes the email identification information 12A for the internal email (step 146), and terminates the series of email holding processes for the internal email.

[0068] On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, when a "send OK" for the external mail is received from the sender user's information terminal A via the relay device 10 (step 150), the mail processing device 30 releases the temporarily stored external mail from temporary suspension (step 151) and transfers a relay request (send request) for the external mail to the mail server 40 via the communication line L2 and the communication network NW (step 152).

[0069] As a result, when the information terminal X uses the mail server 40, external mail addressed to the information terminal X is stored in the mail server 40. Also, a relay request (send request) regarding external mail addressed to the mail checking device 50 is transferred from the mail server 40 to the mail checking device 50 via the communication network NW (step 153).

[0070] Here, when the transfer control unit 13B of the relay device 10 subsequently sends a reception request to confirm the reception of the external mail from the communication line L2 through the communication network NW to the mail checking device 50 (step 160), the reception response from the mail checking device 50 indicates "received" (step 161). As a result, the transfer control unit 13B determines that the hold on the external mail has been released.

[0071] The transfer control unit 13B of the relay device 10 determines that the hold on the external email has been released based on the reception response indicating "received" from the email confirmation device 50, and releases the transfer restriction on the internal email corresponding to the released external email (step 162), and deletes the email identification information 12A of the internal email, thereby completing the series of email hold processes for the internal email.

[0072] As a result, when a reception request from information terminal B is subsequently transferred from relay device 10 (step 170), mail processing device 30 delivers the stored internal mail addressed to information terminal B by means of a reception response (step 171).

[0073] When a receipt response to the mail is sent from the mail processing device 30, the relay device 10 receives the receipt response via the communication I / F 11, and the hold processing unit 13C of the control unit 13 checks the mail included in the receipt response.

[0074] Here, since the email identification information of the email does not match the email identification information 12A in the memory unit 12, the receipt response for the internal email is transferred from the communication I / F 11 to information terminal B via the local communication network LAN, and the internal email is confirmed by an internal user of information terminal B.

[0075] [Advantages of this embodiment] In this way, in this embodiment, when a request to send a broadcast email containing both internal and external users as recipients is made from the information terminal 20, the relay device 10 starts restricting the forwarding of the internal email corresponding to the broadcast email to the information terminal 20, and when a request to send an external email is made from the email processing device 30 to the email server 40, the relay device 10 releases the forwarding restriction on the corresponding internal email.

[0076] As a result, when a request for sending an external mail is made from the mail processing device 30 to the mail server 40, the transfer restriction on the internal mail in the relay device 10 is released, so that even if only the external mail among the broadcast mails is temporarily held in the mail processing device 30, the delivery status of the external mail and the internal mail can be made to match.

[0077] [Extended embodiment] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various modifications 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 symbols]

[0078] 1...mail system, 10...relay device, 11...communication I / F, 12...memory unit, 12A...mail identification information, 12P...program, 13...control unit, 13A...relay processing unit, 13B...transfer control unit, 13C...hold processing unit, 20...information terminal, 30...mail processing device, 40...mail server, 50...mail confirmation device, 60...information terminal, LAN...local communication network, L1, L2...communication line, NW...communication network.

Claims

1. a mail processing device configured to process mails exchanged by users in a department belonging to a predetermined group and to issue a mail transmission request to a mail server; a relay device configured to relay and transfer to the mail processing device a request for sending and receiving an email from an information terminal of the internal user connected thereto, and to relay and transfer an email delivered from the mail processing device to the information terminal; Equipped with The mail processing device includes: When a request is made from the relay device to send a broadcast e-mail including the internal users and external users other than the internal users as destinations, a transmission request to the mail server for an external email addressed to the external user is suspended, and the suspension of the transmission request to the mail server is released in response to an instruction from a sender user of the broadcast email; The relay device When a transmission request for the broadcast email is made from the information terminal, a forwarding restriction is set for the internal email addressed to the internal user to the information terminal; When it is determined that the hold of the external email has been released, the forwarding restriction of the internal email corresponding to the external email whose hold has been released is released. A mail system characterized by:

2. The relay device When a request for sending the broadcast mail is made from the information terminal, a request for sending the broadcast mail with a destination address of a predetermined external user added is sent to the mail processing device; The system is configured to determine that the hold of the external email has been released based on the fact that the broadcast email has been sent to the destination of the predetermined external user.

2. The mail system according to claim 1.

3. The relay device The system is configured to store identification information of the internal email for which a forwarding restriction to the information terminal is set, and when the identification information of the email sent from the email processing device matches the stored identification information, not to relay the email to the information terminal.

2. The mail system according to claim 1.

4. The relay device The system is configured to release the forwarding restriction on the internal email when a predetermined time has elapsed since the forwarding restriction on the information terminal was initiated.

2. The mail system according to claim 1.

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