JP3112802B2 - Email system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an e-mail system in which a radio paging system is connected by a communication line, and in which an e-mail reception notification and an e-mail content notification are performed via the radio paging system. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional e-mail system, as a technique using a radio call system, a method of notifying reception of an e-mail via a radio call is disclosed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 5 (1993) -195686).
No. 110596). According to this method, when an e-mail arrives, the user of the system knows the wireless call number from the correspondence information between the e-mail user and the wireless call number, and performs the information of the arrival of the e-mail via the wireless call. It was possible to know whether or not an e-mail was received without accessing the system.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, since only the information indicating that the message has been received is notified to the wireless calling terminal, there is a problem that it is not immediately known what kind of mail has been received. . In addition, since a radio call is made when an e-mail is received, information cannot be received when the radio call terminal is outside a service area or in a place where radio waves do not reach, such as an underground shopping mall, at the time of calling. For this reason, first, when the wireless calling terminal called when the wireless calling is performed is outside the service area or in an underground mall, there is a problem that information transmitted from the system is not transmitted to the receiver. Second
Conventionally, there has been a problem in that since a wireless calling terminal makes a wireless call regardless of whether or not it is in a place where radio waves cannot reach, a usage fee is charged even though information is not transmitted to a receiver. Third, there is a problem that an e-mail sender does not know whether or not information has been transmitted to a recipient at the time of urgent communication.

The present invention solves such a problem of the prior art, in which the content information of the mail is notified to the wireless calling terminal, the information reaches the receiver without fail, and the e-mail sender transmits the information to the wireless calling terminal. An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail system capable of knowing whether or not a message has been transmitted.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic mail system according to the present invention provides a correspondence between an electronic mail destination and a wireless call number and a type of a wireless call terminal in order to notify the wireless call system. A stored terminal correspondence information table, a message conversion correspondence information table storing correspondence between the content of the e-mail and the display format, a notification information creating means for creating a message to be transmitted to the wireless calling terminal, Paging control means for controlling, paging system notifying means for connecting to the paging system , and retransmission to the paging terminal
Confirmation of request / notification of phone call and status of wireless calling terminal
Receiving means and receiving wireless calls
Email identifier, email recipient, call time, email
Message content, receipt confirmation, e-mail type,
Calls that store the number of times sent and whether the calling terminal can receive
And a status table .

[0006] The present invention also provides confirmation to aggregate the call status monitoring means for monitoring the calls situation, a retransmission parameter table corresponding to the e-mail type stores retransmission interval and the maximum number of retransmissions, the acknowledgment Aggregation means, terminal state registration means for registering the state of the wireless calling terminal received from the telephone, a terminal state table storing the mail receiver and the state of the calling terminal, and a call state to the sender of the e-mail. It has a call status notifying means for notifying.

[0007]

According to the present invention, not only the received information but also the contents of the e-mail can be known by the wireless calling terminal, the retransmission to the wireless calling terminal is accepted by telephone, and if the resending is accepted, the wireless calling terminal is again notified. Sends the information, accepts the acknowledgment received by the wireless calling terminal by telephone, and if there is no acknowledgment, sends the information to the wireless calling terminal again, so the information is reliably transmitted to the wireless calling terminal,
By changing the retransmission interval and the maximum number of retransmissions of information transmission to the wireless calling terminal according to the type of e-mail,
The more urgent information can be conveyed more reliably, and if the calling terminal cannot receive the information, it does not send out the information, thus reducing costs and notifying the sender of the e-mail of the call status. This has the effect that the caller can check whether information has been transmitted to the other party.

[0008]

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to claims 1 and 2 of the present invention. Hereinafter, this will be described as a first embodiment.

Reference numeral 1 denotes an electronic mail system, which is connected to a wireless calling system 2 via a communication line 3. A transmission terminal 4 and a telephone terminal 6 connected to a communication line 5 are connected to the e-mail system 1, and a wireless calling terminal 7 that responds wirelessly is connected to the wireless calling system 2. The e-mail system 1 includes an e-mail reception unit 10, a reception mailbox 11, a reception unit 12, a call control unit 13, a notification information creation unit 14, a terminal correspondence information table 15, and a message conversion correspondence information table 16. , A call system notifying means 17 and a call status table 18.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Upon receiving the e-mail sent from the transmission terminal 4, the e-mail receiving means 10 specifies the recipient's inbox 11 from the e-mail destination information, and stores the e-mail destination information and the e-mail body in the inbox. 11 and sends the identifier of the received e-mail to the accepting means 12 to make a call request. Here, the e-mail identifier is an ID for specifying the e-mail.

The receiving means 12 calls the identifier of the electronic mail and sends it to the control means 13. Call control means 1
3 sends the identifier of the e-mail to the notification information creating means 14. The notification information creating means 14 extracts the destination information and the text of the target electronic mail from the received mail box 11 based on the electronic mail identifier.

Next, the notification information creating means 14 extracts a calling terminal type corresponding to the recipient of the electronic mail from the terminal correspondence information table 15 based on the destination information of the electronic mail. FIG. 2 shows an example of the terminal correspondence information table 15. The terminal correspondence information table 15 stores information of an e-mail destination 151, a corresponding wireless call number 152, and a call terminal type 153. The type 153 of the calling terminal stores a difference in format depending on information that can be handled by the calling terminal, such as tone-only (calling only with a beep sound), numeral display type, and kana display type. The information of the terminal correspondence information table 15 is registered in advance by the administrator.

Next, the notification information creating means 14 creates notification information using the information of the message conversion correspondence information table 16 according to the type of the calling terminal. FIG. 3 shows an example of the message conversion correspondence information table 16. As shown in FIG. 3A, the message conversion correspondence information table 16 combines a mail identifier 161, a mail identification 162, and a mail heading 163 with a hyphen as information to be notified to the calling terminal, and then sets the sender 164 to [ ], And as shown in FIG. 3B, the email type 16
What kind of information is sent to the terminal of each terminal type in accordance with 2 and what kind of information is sent to the terminal of each terminal type in accordance with the e-mail sender 164 as shown in FIG. 3D, what information is sent to the terminal of each terminal type according to the headline 163 of the e-mail. For example, the type 162 of the e-mail is “important”, the sender 164 is “Tanaka”, and the heading 16
If the number 3 is “conference holding guide”, for the calling terminal of the number display type, “01-1-9110 [012]
1] is created. The notification information is given an identifier 161 for identifying the target mail. In the above example, the leading “01” is the email identifier 161. The information of the message conversion correspondence information table 16 is registered in advance by the administrator.

Next, the notification information creating means 14 calls the created notification information and sends it to the control means 13. The call control means 13 stores the identifier of the target e-mail, the recipient of the e-mail, the calling time, and the message content of the notification information in the call status table 18, and stores the e-mail recipient and the message content in the calling system. It is sent to the notifying means 17. FIG. 4 shows an example of information stored in the call status table 18. The call status table 18 stores an e-mail identifier 181, an e-mail recipient 182, a call time 183, and a message content 184 corresponding to the e-mail identifier 181. In the following description, information classified for each e-mail identifier 181 will be referred to as an entry.

The call system notifying means 17 obtains a call number corresponding to the e-mail recipient from the terminal correspondence information table 15, sends a request for a wireless call to the wireless call system 2 through the communication line 3, and The system 2 sends notification information to the wireless calling terminal 7.

When the user holding the wireless calling terminal 7 is out of reach of radio waves, the user uses the telephone terminal 6 to request retransmission of information. Accepting means 12
Receives a request from the telephone terminal 6. The requesting user inputs, for example, using a PB signal, the identifier and password of the e-mail user, the range of the target e-mail, and the contents of the e-mail received from when to when. The accepting unit 12 sends the information to the calling control unit 13.

The call control means 13 searches the information stored in the call status table 18 for an entry that matches the request. If there is a matching entry, the call control means 13 calls the e-mail recipient and the message content and sends it to the system notification means 17. If there is no entry, a notification that there is no entry is sent to the notification information creating means 14.

The notification information creating means 14 sends a message indicating that there is no information to be conveyed based on the information in the terminal correspondence information table 15 and the information in the message conversion correspondence information table 16 when it is input that there is no entry. It is created and sent to the call control means 13.

The call control means 13 calls the e-mail recipient and the message contents, and calls the system notification means 17.
And notifies the wireless calling terminal 7 via the wireless calling system 2.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the reception information and the content information of the e-mail can be notified to the wireless calling terminal, and when the wireless calling is performed, the called wireless calling terminal can be notified. If a retransmission request is made by telephone when outside the service area or in an underground shopping mall, information can be obtained at that time.

There is also a method of notifying arrival information and contents of an e-mail by a synthesized voice using a telephone. According to the method of the present embodiment, a voice synthesizing device for converting information into voice is provided. You can notify users without
System development costs can be reduced.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to claims 3 and 4 of the present invention. Hereinafter, this will be described as a second embodiment. In the present embodiment, a call status monitoring unit 19, a retransmission parameter table 20, and a check totaling unit 21 are added to the configuration of the first embodiment. 6, the call status table 18A stores an email type 185, a retransmission count 186, and the presence or absence of reception confirmation 187 in addition to the information of the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The operation from receiving an e-mail to making a wireless call is the same as in the first embodiment. Users who receive a wireless call
The reception is confirmed using the telephone terminal 6. Accepting means 12
Accepts confirmation from the telephone terminal 6. The user to confirm inputs the identifier and password of the e-mail user and the identifier of the target e-mail using, for example, a PB signal.

The confirmation receiving means 12 sends the information to the confirmation totaling means 21. The confirmation counting unit 21 searches for the corresponding entry from the information stored in the call status table 18A, and sets the information indicating the presence or absence of the confirmation as confirmed.

The call status monitoring means 19 periodically searches the information stored in the call status table 18 for unconfirmed entries. If there is an entry, the call status monitoring means 19 retrieves the information stored in the retransmission parameter table 20. If the number of retransmissions has not reached the maximum number of retransmissions, the call status monitoring means 19 receives the information of the entry. To send to.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the retransmission parameter table 20. The retransmission parameter table 20 includes a retransmission interval 202 for transmitting information to the wireless calling terminal according to the type 201 of the e-mail, and a maximum retransmission number 203 for limiting the number of retransmissions.
Information is stored. As a result, for example, it is possible to perform processing such as retransmitting a radio call for an urgent e-mail at a shorter time interval than a radio call for a normal e-mail. The information of the retransmission parameter table 20 is registered in advance by the administrator.

The receiving means 12 is a call status monitoring means 1
Call control means 1 for the information of the entry input from
3 The call control unit 13 extracts the message content from the information stored in the call status table 18A and sends it to the call system notifying unit 17 to perform retransmission. At this time, the information on the number of retransmissions stored in the call status table 18A is updated.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user can confirm the reception from the telephone, and if there is no confirmation of the reception from the user, the call is continued until the confirmation is performed, so that the information can be reliably transmitted. Can be. Also, by changing the retransmission parameter according to the type of e-mail,
The more urgent e-mails can convey information in a shorter time.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to claim 5 of the present invention. This will be described below as Embodiment 3. In the present embodiment, a terminal status registration unit 22 and a terminal status table 23 are added to the configuration of the above-described second embodiment, and the call status table 18B stores the information of the second embodiment as shown in FIG. In addition, the terminal status is stored as 188, which is different from the second embodiment, and other configurations are the same as the second embodiment.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
The operation from receiving the e-mail to making a wireless call is the same as that of the second embodiment. The receiving unit 12 receives a terminal state from the telephone terminal 6. The user uses, for example, a PB signal to input the identifier and password of the e-mail user, the terminal status, and information such as when the wireless call cannot be accepted from when to when the wireless call can be accepted from when.

The accepting means 12 sends the information to the terminal status registering means 22. The terminal status registration unit 22 registers the information in the terminal status table 23. FIG. 10 shows an example of information in the terminal status table 23, in which a mail sender 231, a reception impossible start time 232, and a reception impossible end time 233 are stored.

The call control means 13 searches for information stored in the terminal status table 23 when making a wireless call. If the state of the wireless paging terminal of the user making the call cannot be received, the notification information created by the notification information creation means 14 is stored in the call status table 18.
The information is not sent to the calling system notifying means 17 only by storing it in B. Call status table 18B
, Information indicating that the calling terminal is not currently available is set at the position of the terminal state 188.

When the information stored in the terminal status table 23 is changed, the call control means 13 indicates that the call terminal is currently unavailable, which is set in the terminal status 188 of the call status table 18B. Cancel the information.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when a call cannot be clearly made, no call is made.
The cost of sending information can be reduced.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to claim 6 of the present invention. This will be described below as Embodiment 4. In the present embodiment, a call status notifying unit 24 is added to the configuration of the third embodiment described above, and the other configuration is the same as that of the third embodiment.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The operation from the reception of the e-mail to the execution of the wireless call and the retransmission operation of the wireless call are the same as in the third embodiment.

The sender of the e-mail requesting the call status transmits a call status notification request by e-mail from the transmission terminal 4 by designating the identifier of the target e-mail.
If the received e-mail is a call status notification request, the e-mail receiving means 10 sends the identifier of the sending e-mail user and the identifier of the e-mail targeted for the notification request to the accepting means 12. The accepting unit 12 sends the notification of the call status notification request to the call status notifying unit 24 together with the identifier of the e-mail user and the identifier of the target e-mail.

The call status notifying means 24 extracts the entry of the e-mail to be notified of the call status from the information stored in the call status table 18B, and creates a message indicating the reception confirmation indicating the call status and the number of retransmissions. Then, the call is transmitted to the transmission terminal 4 of the caller.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the sender of the e-mail can confirm the call status of the receiver to determine whether or not the receiver has received the information.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, not only the received information but also the contents of the e-mail can be known by the wireless calling terminal, and the resending to the wireless calling terminal is accepted by telephone and the resending is accepted. The information is sent to the wireless calling terminal again, the reception confirmation received by the wireless calling terminal is accepted by telephone, and if there is no reception confirmation, the information is sent again to the wireless calling terminal, so that the information can be reliably sent to the wireless calling terminal. Information is transmitted, and by changing the retransmission interval and the maximum number of retransmissions of information transmission to the wireless calling terminal according to the type of e-mail, urgent information can be transmitted more reliably and the calling terminal cannot receive information. In this case, the information is not sent, so that the cost can be reduced, and the caller is notified of the call status to the e-mail sender. It has the effect of such that you can verify that the information was transmitted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic mail system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a terminal correspondence information table according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a message conversion correspondence information table according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a call status table according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic mail system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a call status table according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a retransmission parameter table according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic mail system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a call status table according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a terminal status table according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic mail system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 electronic mail system 2 wireless calling system 3 communication line 4 transmitting terminal 5 communication line 6 telephone terminal 7 wireless calling terminal 10 electronic mail receiving means 11 received mail box 12 receiving means 13 call control means 14 notification information creating means 15 terminal correspondence information table 16 Message Conversion Correspondence Information Table 17 Calling System Notification Means 18 Calling State Table 19 Calling State Monitoring Means 20 Retransmission Parameter Table 21 Confirmation Aggregation Means 22 Terminal State Registration Means 23 Terminal State Table 24 Calling State Notification Means

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI H04Q 7/12 (56) References JP-A-6-152642 (JP, A) JP-A-6-21969 (JP, A) Akira Ogawa, Tanaka Masanori, "Development of E-mail Arrival Notification Service, Linkage between Pager and Personal Computer Communication", NTT Technical Journal, Vol. 5, No. 8, p. 60, Japan Telecommunications Association, August 1, 1993. Yoshikazu Wada and Yuzo Yamashita, "A UNIX Network One-Point Technique Paging Page-Notification of E-mail Arrival," Interface, Vol. 20, No. 8, pp. 167-174, CQ Publishing Co., Ltd., August 1, 1994 (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/54 H04L 12/58 H04Q 7/06-7/08 G06F 13/00

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic mail system in which a wireless calling system is connected by a communication line, a terminal storing correspondence between an e-mail destination and a wireless calling number and a type of a wireless calling terminal to notify the wireless calling system. A correspondence information table, a message conversion correspondence information table that stores correspondence between the content of the e-mail and the display format, a notification information creating unit that creates a message to be transmitted to the wireless calling terminal, and a call control that controls the wireless calling Means, a paging system notifying means for connecting to the radio paging system, and receiving communication by telephone.
Acceptance means and the electronic
Email identifier, email recipient, call time, message
With a call status table that stores
Resend to the paging terminal by telephone and resend
If accepted, send the information to the wireless calling terminal again.
An e-mail system characterized by issuing . 2. A confirmation aggregation means for aggregating the confirmation notice to radio paging terminals, which are received by the receiving means, and a call status monitoring means for monitoring the call status, call status table of claim 1, wherein The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing presence / absence of reception confirmation in addition to the information, accepting the reception confirmation received by the wireless calling terminal by telephone, and transmitting the information to the wireless calling terminal again when there is no reception confirmation.
1. The e-mail system according to 1 . 3. A retransmission parameter table for storing a retransmission interval and a maximum number of retransmissions corresponding to an electronic mail type,
The call status table stores the type of the target e-mail and the number of retransmissions in addition to the information described in claim 2, and determines the retransmission interval and the maximum number of retransmissions of information transmission to the wireless calling terminal according to the type of the e-mail. 3. The electronic mail system according to claim 2 , wherein the electronic mail system is changed. 4. A terminal status registering means for registering a terminal status, and a terminal status table storing states of a mail recipient and a calling terminal thereof, wherein the calling status table has the information described in claim 3. storing the receivability of the calling terminal, according to claim 1 paging terminal when receiving from the telephone to a state that does not receive the information, characterized in that stops sending the information to the paging terminal E-mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . 5. A call status notifying means for notifying a caller of an e-mail of a call status, and notifying a caller of the e-mail when a call status notification request is made. The electronic mail system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein