SYSTEM FOR SENDING ELECTRONIC MAIL

• US 20080021966A1
• Filed: 05/24/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Asami, Toshio
• Application Number:
  US11/752,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20080021966A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The present invention is configured to disclose the electronic mail address of a certain receiver only to another specific receiver selected by a sender when an electronic mail is sent to a plurality of receivers. A system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: an obtaining unit for obtaining an electronic mail to be sent, in association with a specification of a plurality of destination address groups, at least one of which including a plurality of destinations, and a transmission unit for sending the electronic mail to each of the specified destination address groups, setting destinations included in each of the destination address groups in destination fields to be presented to receivers as destinations, and not setting destinations included in the other destination address groups in the destination fields.

Claims

1. A system for sending an electronic mail, comprising:

an obtaining unit for obtaining an electronic mail to be sent, in association with a specification of a plurality of destination address groups, at least one of which including a plurality of destinations; and

a transmission unit for sending the electronic mail to each of the specified destination address groups, setting destinations included in each of the destination address groups in destination fields to be presented to receivers as destinations, and not setting destinations included in the other destination address groups in the destination fields.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining unit obtains the electronic mail, further in association with a specification of a common display address group that includes destinations to be commonly displayed in destination fields in each electronic mail to be sent to each of the destination address groups, and

the transmission unit sends the electronic mail to each of the destination address groups, further adding the destinations included in the common display address group to the destination fields.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display unit for displaying a plurality of predetermined destination entry fields for specifying a plurality of destination address groups, wherein

the obtaining unit obtains, as a specification of each of the destination address groups, one or more electronic mail addresses entered in destination entry fields for each of the destination address groups.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein, on a condition that a plurality of electronic mail addresses listed in text data obtained as a specification of destination address groups are separated from each other with a predetermined group separator that is different from an address separator that is a delimiter between electronic mail addresses, the obtaining unit determines that each of a plurality of set of the electronic mail addresses separated from each other with the group separator is a destination address group.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a group control unit for managing at least one electronic mail address in association with an identifier of a registered address group that is registered in advance, wherein,

on a condition that an identifier of a registered address group is included in text data obtained as a specification of destination address groups, the obtaining unit determines that a set of electronic mail addresses that are managed in association with the identifier of the registered address group are included in the same destination address group.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining unit classifies a plurality of electronic mail addresses obtained as a specification of destination address groups into a plurality of groups for individual domain names of the electronic mail addresses and obtains each of the classified groups as a destination address group.

7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a terminal unit and a transmission server for transferring an electronic mail received from the terminal unit to another mail server, wherein,

in the terminal unit,

the obtaining unit obtains the electronic mail created by a user, in association with specification of destination address groups, and

the transmission unit generates an electronic mail, for each of the specified destination address groups, in which destinations included in each of the destination address groups are set in destination fields to be presented to receivers as destinations, and destinations included in the other destination address groups are not set in the destination fields, and sends the electronic mail to the transmission server.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a terminal unit and a transmission server for transferring an electronic mail received from the terminal unit to another mail server, wherein,

in the transmission server,

the obtaining unit obtains the electronic mail from the terminal unit, in association with a specification of destination address groups, and

the transmission unit generates an electronic mail, for each of the specified destination address groups, in which destinations included in each of the destination address groups are set in destination fields to be presented to receivers as destinations, and destinations included in the other destination address groups are not set in the destination fields, and sends the electronic mail to the other mail server.

9. A method for sending an electronic mail, comprising:

obtaining an electronic mail to be sent, in association with a specification of a plurality of destination address groups, at least one of which including a plurality of destinations; and

sending the electronic mail to each of the specified destination address groups, setting destinations included in each of the destination address groups in destination fields to be presented to receivers as destinations, and not setting destinations included in the other destination address groups in the destination fields.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the electronic mail is obtained, further in association with a specification of a common display address group that includes destinations to be commonly displayed in destination fields in each electronic mail to be sent to each of the destination address groups, and wherein the electronic mail is sent to each of the destination address groups with the destinations included in the common display address group added to the destination fields.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of predetermined destination entry fields for specifying a plurality of destination address groups; and

obtaining as a specification of each of the destination address groups, one or more electronic mail addresses entered in destination entry fields for each of the destination address groups.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein, on a condition that a plurality of electronic mail addresses listed in text data obtained as a specification of destination address groups are separated from each other with a predetermined group separator that is different from an address separator that is a delimiter between electronic mail addresses, determining that each of a plurality of set of the electronic mail addresses separated from each other with the group separator is a destination address group.

13. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

managing at least one electronic mail address in association with an identifier of a registered address group that is registered in advance, wherein,

on a condition that an identifier of a registered address group is included in text data obtained as a specification of destination address groups, determining that a set of electronic mail addresses that are managed in association with the identifier of the registered address group are included in the same destination address group.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

classifying a plurality of electronic mail addresses obtained as a specification of destination address groups into a plurality of groups for individual domain names of the electronic mail addresses and obtaining each of the classified groups as a destination address group.

15. A program product stored on a computer readable medium, which when executed, causes an information processing unit to function as a system for sending an electronic mail, the computer readable medium comprising program code for:

obtaining an electronic mail to be sent, in association with a specification of a plurality of destination address groups, at least one of which including a plurality of destinations; and

sending the electronic mail to each of the specified destination address groups, setting destinations included in each of the destination address groups in destination fields to be presented to receivers as destinations, and not setting destinations included in the other destination address groups in the destination fields.