Relay Device for Undelivered Email Notification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing email systems fail to inform users of undelivered emails when no alternative delivery means are pre-registered, leaving users unaware of the email content.
Innovation Solution
An email system with a relay device that receives emails intended for an alternative address, obtains the actual user address, and sends undelivered emails to the user's terminal device, ensuring user awareness of email content even if delivery fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an e-mail is sent to an alternative mail address without pre-registering alternative means, then the user cannot be informed of the email content through alternative channels, but the system cannot guarantee delivery to the actual mail address
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a relay device as an intermediary between the sender and the user's terminal device. This relay device receives emails intended for the alternative mail address, retrieves the actual mail address from correlation information, and forwards the email to the terminal device. This mediator ensures email content awareness even when direct delivery to the actual address fails or is undeliverable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-storing correlation information between alternative mail addresses and actual mail addresses in the relay device. This advance preparation enables the relay device to quickly resolve alternative addresses to actual addresses when emails arrive, ensuring timely delivery without requiring real-time registration or user intervention.
2Loss of information
If the system stores and forwards undelivered emails to terminal devices, then user awareness of email content is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The relay device performs multiple functions within a single system: it acts as an email receiver for alternative addresses, a database for storing correlation information, a mail address resolver, and a forwarder to terminal devices. This multi-functionality consolidates what could be separate complex systems into one unified relay device, managing complexity while achieving comprehensive email delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The relay device autonomously manages the email forwarding process by automatically retrieving correlation information, resolving mail addresses, and forwarding emails without requiring manual intervention. The system self-services the complex tasks of address management and email routing, reducing the operational complexity burden on users.
3Measurement precision
If correlation information is stored between actual and alternative mail addresses, then email forwarding accuracy is improved, but information storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The correlation information is stored locally within the relay device itself rather than being distributed across multiple systems or requiring external database queries. This local storage ensures quick access and accurate retrieval of mail address mappings, improving forwarding accuracy while minimizing the need for complex external information infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide an e-mail system for ensuring that a user is able to know content of an e-mail sent addressed to the user even when the e-mail is not delivered to the user. An e-mail sending unit (220) sends an e-mail sent addressed to the alternative mail address of the user to the actual mail address of the user, after setting a predetermined destination as a destination of a notice of failed delivery, if caused, of the e-mail. In a case where the notice of failed delivery of the e-mail sent addressed to the actual mail address of the user is received by the predetermined destination, an undelivered mail data saving unit (230) saves undelivered mail data indicating the undelivered e-mail in an undelivered mail data storage unit (410). An undelivered mail data sending unit (110) sends undelivered mail data indicating an e-mail sent addressed to the actual mail address of the user and failed to be delivered to a terminal device used by the user.