E-mail delivery device, contact point guiding device, and e-mail delivery method and program

• US 20080172466A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tonegawa, Satoko, Asai, Nobuhiro
• Application Number:
  US10/742,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20080172466A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

It is an object of the present invention to send information accurately to a target person having a plurality of e-mail addresses or contact points. A delivery server 10 is provided for sending an e-mail selectively to a target person having a plurality of e-mail addresses. The delivery server 10 predicts a target person'"'"'s condition when sending the e-mail, orders the plurality of e-mail addresses in descending order of likelihood that the target person will receive the e-mail, and sends the e-mail according to the ordering. Furthermore, it is configured so that the next ordering reflects the e-mail address where the target person has received the message as a result of sending the e-mail.

Claims

1. An e-mail delivery device for sending an e-mail to a target person having a plurality of e-mail addresses, comprising:

storage means for storing a condition of the target person associated with said e-mail addresses;

prediction means for predicting the target person'"'"'s condition when sending the e-mail to the target person;

ordering means for fetching a given number of e-mail addresses from said storage means and ordering the given number of fetched e-mail addresses on the basis of said predicted condition; and

delivery means for sending an e-mail sequentially to each of said given number of e-mail addresses by using said given number of ordered e-mail addresses.

2. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 1, wherein said prediction means obtains the target person'"'"'s schedule and predicts said condition on the basis of the obtained schedule.

3. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving means for receiving a receipt confirmation returned from one of said given number of e-mail addresses in response to the e-mail sent by said delivery means,

wherein said delivery means stops sending an e-mail when said receipt conformation has been received.

4. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving means for receiving receipt confirmations returned from one of said given number of e-mail addresses in response to the e-mail sent by said delivery means,

wherein said ordering means modifies the order of said given number of e-mail addresses in the next ordering.

5. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 1, wherein said ordering means fetches an e-mail address from said storage means that matches said condition predicted by said prediction means.

6. An e-mail delivery device for sending an e-mail to a target person having a plurality of e-mail addresses, comprising:

storage means for storing records of delivery requirements of the target person associated with e-mail addresses at which the target person desires to receive an e-mail;

condition acquisition means for acquiring a personal condition in which the target person is supposed to be in when sending the e-mail to the target person;

delivery list generation means for acquiring records matching said condition acquired by said condition acquisition means from said storage means and generating a delivery requirement list;

theoretical value generation means for generating a theoretical value related to ease of arrival of the e-mail at the target person;

delivery priority list generation means for generating a delivery priority list by ordering the e-mail addresses in said delivery requirement list generated by said delivery list generation means on the basis of the theoretical value generated by said theoretical value generation means; and

delivery means for sending the e-mail to the e-mail addresses in the order of descending priorities thereof on the basis of said delivery priority list generated by said delivery priority list generation means.

7. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving means for receiving a receipt confirmation for the e-mail sent by the delivery means,

wherein said theoretical value generation means modifies said theoretical value on the basis of said receipt confirmation received by said receiving means.

8. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 7, further comprising:

count storage means for storing said delivery requirements associated with the number of attempts to send e-mails by said delivery means and the number of times receipt confirmations have been received by said receiving means; and

expected value generation means for generating an expected value corresponding to each delivery requirement on the basis of a count value stored in said count storage means,

wherein said theoretical value generation means modifies said theoretical values on the basis of said expected values generated by said expected value generation means.

9. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 6, further comprising:

initial priority storage means for storing a list of priorities of said delivery requirements preset by a target person,

wherein said theoretical value generation means determines the initial theoretical values on the basis of the initial priority list obtained from said initial priority storage means.

10. A contact point guiding device for guiding a contacting person to a contact point when contacting a target person having a plurality of contact points, comprising:

acquisition means for acquiring correspondence between a target person'"'"'s condition and said contact points;

prediction means for predicting the condition of the target person when contacting the target person; and

ordering means for acquiring a given number of contact points by using said acquisition means and ordering the given number of acquired contact points on the basis of said predicted condition.

11. The contact point guiding device according to claim 10, wherein said contact point acquired by said acquisition means comprises at least one of an e-mail address, a telephone number, and a facsimile number.

12. The contact point guiding device according to claim 10, wherein said ordering means makes the next ordering that reflects the result of contact performed in accordance with said ordering.

13. An e-mail delivery method of sending an e-mail to a specific e-mail address from a storage device storing a plurality of e-mail addresses for a given target person, comprising the steps of:

predicting a condition of the target person when sending the e-mail to the target person;

fetching said plurality of e-mail addresses from said storage device and ordering the plurality of e-mail addresses on the basis of said predicted condition; and

sending the e-mail sequentially on the basis of said ordering.

14. A program product for enabling a computer to send an e-mail from a storage device storing a plurality of e-mail addresses for a given target person to a specific e-mail address for achieving the functions of:

predicting a target person'"'"'s condition when sending the e-mail to the target person;

fetching said plurality of e-mail addresses from said storage device and ordering the plurality of e-mail addresses on the basis of said predicted condition; and

sending the e-mail sequentially on the basis of said ordering.