Network communication device, communication device, data reception processing method and data transmission processing method, data transmission processing program and data reception processing program, and computer-readable storage medium

• US 20030233421A1
• Filed: 06/05/2003
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Shibata, Tetsuya, Nakamura, Takeshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,725,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32771 in response to a request, e.g. for a particular document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32791 Arrangements for reducing the handshaking procedure or protocol time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0018 via a non-image communication channel, e.g. via a computer network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0086 Image transceiver H04N2201/0093 and H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3207 of an address
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3209 of a telephone number
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3235 Checking or certification of the authentication information, e.g. by comparison with data stored independently
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3276 of a customised additional information profile, e.g. a profile specific to a user ID

Abstract

A network communication device is provided with e-mail message composing means and e-mail message transmitting/receiving means. The e-mail message composing means has functions of incorporating an MDN request and return transmission conditions into an e-mail message and of consolidating MDN responses for multiple received e-mail messages into a collective MDN response to compose a single e-mail message. The e-mail message transmitting/receiving means has a function of recognizing the MDN request and the return transmission conditions. The network communication device is further provided with: reception result monitoring means which monitors the reception of an e-mail message to see whether it is a success or failure and which composes an MDN response; and disposition notification controlling means which monitors return transmission conditions incorporated in a received e-mail message and which, if the return transmission conditions are met, instructs the e-mail message composing means to compose a collective MDN response and the e-mail message transmitting/receiving means to transmit the composed collective MDN response. Thus, the invention enables collective confirmation of MDN responses to multiple e-mail messages.

Claims

1. A network communication device having a function of receiving an e-mail message containing a disposition notification request, the device comprising:

disposition notification transmitting means for, when having received an e-mail message containing a disposition notification request, transmitting a disposition notification to a recipient address specified in the e-mail message; and

disposition notification controlling means for controlling the disposition notification transmitting means to consolidate multiple disposition notifications addressed to an identical recipient address into a single e-mail message for transmission.

2. The network communication device as set forth in claim 1, wherein

the disposition notification controlling means consolidates multiple disposition notifications addressed to an identical recipient address into a single e-mail message on the basis of response conditions for disposition notification contained in the received e-mail message.

3. The network communication device as set forth in claim 1, wherein

the disposition notification controlling means, when the e-mail message has not been properly received, causes a response containing the disposition notification to be transmitted immediately.

4. A network communication device having a function of transmitting an e-mail message containing a disposition notification request, the device comprising:

disposition specification controlling means for requesting that responses to multiple disposition notification requests be consolidated into a single e-mail message.

6. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means is capable of specifying response conditions for disposition notification.

7. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means specifies a standby time for a receiving end as response conditions for disposition notification.

8. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means specifies a standby message count for a receiving end as response conditions for disposition notification.

9. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means specifies a standby message count and a standby time for a receiving end as response conditions for disposition notification.

10. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

for a predetermined e-mail message, the disposition specification controlling means causes a response containing a disposition notification to be transmitted immediately.

11. The network communication device as set forth in claim 10, wherein

the predetermined e-mail message is a message which has not been properly received by a receiving end.

12. The network communication device as set forth in claim 11, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means is capable of specifying response conditions for disposition notification for an e-mail message except for an e-mail messages which has not properly received.

13. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

for an e-mail message for which an urgent disposition notification is needed, the disposition specification controlling means causes a response containing a disposition notification to be transmitted immediately.

14. The network communication device as set forth in claim 13, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means is capable of specifying response conditions for disposition notification for an e-mail message except for an e-mail message for which an urgent disposition notification is needed.

15. The network communication device as set forth in claim 4, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means is capable of specifying response conditions for disposition notification and changes predetermined response conditions specified in an earlier transmitted e-mail message by an e-mail message transmitted later.

16. The network communication device as set forth in claim 15, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means specifies a standby time for a receiving end in the earlier transmitted e-mail message and changes the standby time by the e-mail message transmitted later.

17. The network communication device as set forth in claim 15, wherein

the disposition specification controlling means changes the response conditions specified in the earlier transmitted e-mail message by the e-mail message transmitted later, so as to cause a response containing a disposition notification to be transmitted immediately.

5. A network communication device having a function of transmitting/receiving an e-mail message containing a disposition notification request, the device comprising:

disposition specification controlling means for requesting that responses to multiple disposition notification requests be consolidated into a single e-mail message;

disposition notification transmitting means for, when having received an e-mail message containing a disposition notification request, transmitting a disposition notification to a recipient address specified in the e-mail message; and

disposition notification controlling means for controlling the disposition notification transmitting means to consolidate multiple disposition notifications addressed to an identical recipient address into a single e-mail message for transmission.

18. A network communication device having a function of receiving data containing a disposition notification request, the device comprising:

disposition notification transmitting means for, when having received data containing a disposition notification request, transmitting a disposition notification to a recipient address specified in the received data; and

disposition notification controlling means for controlling the disposition notification transmitting means to consolidate multiple disposition notifications addressed to an identical recipient address into a single set of transmission data for transmission.

19. A network communication device having a function of transmitting data containing a disposition notification request, the device comprising:

disposition specification controlling means for requesting that responses to multiple disposition notification requests be consolidated into a single set of data.

20. A network communication device having a function of transmitting/receiving data containing a disposition notification request, the device comprising:

disposition specification controlling means for requesting that responses to multiple disposition notification requests be consolidated into a single set of data;

disposition notification transmitting means for, when having received data containing a disposition notification request, transmitting a disposition notification to a recipient address specified in the data; and

disposition notification controlling means for controlling the disposition notification transmitting means to consolidate multiple disposition notifications addressed to an identical recipient address into a single set of transmission data for transmission.

21. A communication device having a function of responding to a data disposition notification request contained in received data, the device comprising:

receiving means for receiving data;

notification data composing means for, when received data received by the receiving means contains notification request information indicating a disposition notification request, composing notification data for disposition notification;

transmitting means for transmitting the notification data;

notification condition recognizing means for, when the received data contains notification condition information indicating conditions for determining a disposition notification timing, recognizing the conditions indicated in the notification condition information; and

transmission controlling means for determining a timing of the transmitting means transmitting the notification data, on the basis of recognition by the notification condition recognizing means.

22. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, wherein

the notification data composing means composes a single set of notification data by consolidating disposition notifications for multiple sets of received data on the basis of the recognition by the notification condition recognizing means.

23. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, further comprising reception result determining means for determining a result of reception of the received data,

wherein

the transmission controlling means determines the timing of the transmitting means transmitting the notification data on the further basis of determination by the reception result determining means.

24. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, wherein

the notification condition information specifies a date on which the notification data is to be transmitted.

25. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, wherein

the notification condition information specifies a time at which the notification data is to be transmitted.

26. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, wherein

the notification condition information specifies a date and time at which the notification data is to be transmitted.

27. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, wherein

the notification condition information specifies a day of the week on which the notification data is to be transmitted.

28. The communication device as set forth in claim 21, wherein

the notification condition information schedules the notification data to be transmitted when data equivalent to a predetermined number of messages has been received.

29. A communication device for transmitting data containing a disposition notification request to the communication device of claim 21, the former communication device comprising:

notification condition designating means for designating conditions for defining a timing of a disposition notification;

transmission data composing means for composing transmission data by incorporating notification request information indicating a disposition notification request and notification condition information indicating the conditions designated by the notification condition designating means, into data to be transmitted; and

transmitting means for transmitting the transmission data.

30. The communication device as set forth in claim 29, wherein

the notification condition information is information specifying a timing for a disposition notification;

and

the communication device further comprises;

receiving means for receiving notification data for a disposition notification;

reception managing means for determining whether the receiving means has received notification data corresponding to the transmission data within a predetermined period with respect to the timing for a disposition notification specified in the notification condition information contained in the transmission data transmitted by the transmitting means; and

alerting means for alerting the user when the reception managing means determines that the notification data has not been received within the period.

31. A data reception processing method of responding to a data disposition notification request contained in received data, the method comprising:

the receiving step in which receiving means receives data;

the notification data composing step in which when the received data received in the receiving step contains notification request information indicating a disposition notification request, notification data composing means composes notification data for a disposition notification;

the notification condition recognizing step in which when the received data contains notification condition information indicating conditions for defining a timing of a disposition notification, notification condition recognizing means recognizes the conditions indicated in the notification condition information;

the transmission timing designating step in which transmission controlling means determines a timing of transmitting the notification data on the basis of recognition in the notification condition recognizing step; and

the transmitting step in which transmitting means transmits the notification data at the timing determined in the transmission timing designating step.

32. A data transmission processing method of transmitting data received by the data reception processing method of claim 31,

the notification condition designating step in which notification condition designating means designates conditions for determining a timing for a disposition notification;

the transmission data composing step in which transmission data composing means composes transmission data by incorporating notification request information indicating a disposition notification request and notification condition information indicating the conditions designated in the notification condition designating step, into data to be transmitted; and

the transmitting step in which transmitting means transmits the transmission data.

33. A data reception processing program implementing the data reception processing method of claim 31, the program causing a computer to function as the individual means and carry out the steps.

34. A data transmission processing program implementing the data transmission processing method of claim 32, the program causing a computer to function as the individual means and carry out the steps.

35. A computer-readable storage medium on which the data reception processing program of claim 33 is recorded.

36. A computer-readable storage medium on which the data transmission processing program of claim 34 is recorded.