System and apparatus for selectively publishing electronic-mail

• US 6,146,026 A
• Filed: 12/02/1997
• Issued: 11/14/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ushiku, Toyohiko
• Primary Examiner(s): HOMERE, JEAN RAYMOND
• Application Number:
  US08/982,923
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/201, 707/5, 395/200.36, 395/200.37, 395/200.33, 395/200.49
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A user A sends electronic mail addressed to a user B. A mail server then receives the electronic mail sent from the user A and sends it to a publishing server. Upon receiving the electronic mail, the publishing server extracts a specific type of electronic mail from the received electronic mail based on a filtering condition and publishes the extracted electronic mail. Then, the publishing server returns to the mail server the electronic mail which has not been extracted. The users C and D are thus able to read the published electronic mail by accessing the publishing server. It is therefore possible to publish the mail without needing to perform a complicated operation, thereby reducing effort.

Claims

1. An electronic-mail processing apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

condition setting means for setting a condition used for extracting a publishable electronic mail;

extracting means for extracting the publishable electronic mail from among the electronic mail received by said receiving means based on the condition set by said condition setting means; and

publishing means for publishing the publishable electronic mail extracted by said extracting means in a publishing area for publishing to a plurality of users.

2. An electronic-mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising conversion means for converting the publishable electronic mail extracted by said extracting means into a form suitable for the publishing area, wherein said publishing means publishes the electronic mail converted by said conversion means.

3. An electronic-mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising returning means for returning to the mail server electronic mail that has not been extracted by said extracting means.

4. An electronic-mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the condition used for extracting comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

5. An electronic-mail processing apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

condition setting means for setting a condition used for extracting a specific type of electronic mail;

extracting means for extracting the specific type of electronic mail from among the electronic mail received by said receiving means based on the condition set by said condition setting means;

publishing means for publishing the specific type of electronic mail extracted by said extracting means in a publishing area;

interval setting means for setting a time interval; and

update means for updating the publishing area at the time interval set by said interval setting means.

6. An electronic-mail processing apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

condition setting means for setting a condition used for extracting a specific type of electronic mail;

extracting means for extracting the specific type of electronic mail from among the electronic mail received by said receiving means based on the condition set by said condition setting means;

publishing means for publishing the specific type of electronic mail extracted by said extracting means in a publishing area;

period setting means for setting a publishing period of electronic mail; and

deletion means for deleting from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond the publishing period set by said period setting means.

7. An electronic-mail processing system comprising:

a first terminal;

a second terminal;

a first server; and

a second server, wherein

said first terminal sends electronic mail addressed to terminals other than said first terminal,

said first server receives the electronic mail sent from said first terminal,

said second server receives the electronic mail from said first server and extracts a publishable electronic mail from the received electronic mail based on a condition for extracting the publishable electronic mail and publishes the extracted electronic mail in a publishing area, and

said second terminal accesses said second server to receive information of the electronic mail published in the publishing area.

8. An electronic-mail processing system according to claim 7, wherein said second server converts the extracted electronic mail into a format suitable for the publishing area and publishes the converted electronic mail.

9. An electronic-mail processing system according to claim 7, wherein said second server returns to said first server electronic mail that has not been extracted.

10. An electronic-mail processing system according to claim 7, wherein the condition for extracting comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

11. An electronic-mail processing system comprising:

a first terminal;

a second terminal;

a first server; and

a second server, wherein

said first terminal sends electronic mail addressed to terminals other than said first terminal,

said first server receives the electronic mail sent from said first terminal,

said second server receives the electronic mail from said first server and extracts a specific type of electronic mail from the received electronic mail based on a condition for extracting the specific type of electronic mail and publishes the extracted electronic mail in a publishing area,

said second terminal accesses said second server to receive information of the electronic mail published in the publishing area; and

said second server updates the publishing area at a set time interval.

12. An electronic-mail processing system comprising:

a first terminal;

a second terminal;

a first server; and

a second server, wherein

said first terminal sends electronic mail addressed to terminals other than said first terminal,

said first server receives the electronic mail sent from said first terminal,

said second server receives the electronic mail from said first server and extracts a specific type of electronic mail from the received electronic mail based on a condition for extracting the specific type of electronic mail and publishes the extracted electronic mail in a publishing area,

said second terminal accesses said second server to receive information of the electronic mail published in the publishing area; and

said second server deletes from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond a publishing period set for the electronic mail.

13. An electronic-mail processing method comprising the steps of:

receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

setting a condition used for extracting a publishable electronic mail;

extracting the publishable electronic mail from among the electronic mail received in said receiving step based on the condition set in said setting step; and

publishing the publishable electronic mail extracted in said extracting step in a publishing area for publishing to a plurality of users.

14. An electronic-mail processing method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of converting the publishable electronic mail extracted in said extracting step into a form suitable for the publishing area, wherein said publishing step publishes the electronic mail converted in said converting step.

15. An electronic-mail processing method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of returning to the mail server electronic mail that has not been extracted in said extracting step.

16. An electronic-mail processing method according to claim 13, wherein the condition used for extracting comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

17. An electronic-mail processing method comprising the steps of:

receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

setting a condition used for extracting a specific type of electronic mail;

extracting the specific type of electronic mail from among the electronic mail received in said receiving step based on the condition set in said setting step;

publishing the specific type of electronic mail extracted in said extracting step in a publishing area;

setting a time interval; and

updating the publishing area at the set time interval.

18. An electronic-mail processing method further comprising the steps of:

receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

setting a condition used for extracting a specific type of electronic mail;

extracting the specific type of electronic mail from among the electronic mail received in said receiving step based on the condition set in said setting step;

publishing the specific type of electronic mail extracted in said extracting step in a publishing area;

setting a publishing period of electronic mail; and

deleting from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond the set publishing period.

19. A computer-readable memory medium for storing a program for implementing an electronic-mail processing method, the program comprising:

programming code for receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

programming code for setting a condition used for extracting a publishable electronic mail;

programming code for extracting the publishable mail from among the received electronic mail based on the set condition; and

programming code for publishing the extracted publishable electronic mail in a publishing area for publishing to a plurality of users.

20. A memory medium according to claim 19, the program further comprising programming code for converting the extracted publishable electronic mail into a form suitable for the publishing area, wherein said programming code for publishing publishes the electronic mail converted by said programming code for converting.

21. A memory medium according to claim 19, the program further comprising programming code for returning to the mail server electronic mail that has not been extracted by said programming code for extracting.

22. A memory medium according to claim 19, wherein the condition used for extracting comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

23. A computer-readable memory medium for storing a program for implementing an electronic-mail processing method, the program comprising:

programming code for receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

programming code for setting a condition used for extracting a specific type of electronic mail;

programming code for extracting the specific type of electronic mail from among the received electronic mail based on the set condition; and

programming code for publishing the extracted specific type of electronic mail in a publishing area;

programming code for setting a time interval; and

programming code for updating the publishing area at the set time interval.

24. A computer-readable memory medium for storing a program for implementing an electronic-mail processing method, the program comprising:

programming code for receiving electronic mail from a mail server that sends and receives electronic mail;

programming code for setting a condition used for extracting a specific type of electronic mail;

programming code for extracting the specific type of electronic mail from the received electronic mail based on the set condition;

programming code for publishing the extracted specific type of electronic mail in a publishing area;

programming code for setting a publishing period of electronic mail; and

programming code for deleting from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond the set publishing period.

25. An electronic-mail processing apparatus comprising:

condition setting means for setting a condition used for filtering a publishable electronic mail;

a filter for filtering the publishable electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the condition set by said condition setting means; and

publishing means for publishing the publishable electronic mail filtered by said filter in a publishing area for publishing to a plurality of users.

26. An electronic-mail processing apparatus according to claim 25, further comprising a converter for converting the publishable electronic mail filtered by said filter into a form suitable for the publishing area, wherein said publishing means publishes the electronic mail converted by said converter.

29. An electronic-mail processing apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the condition used for filtering comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

27. An electronic-mail processing apparatus comprising:

condition setting means for setting a condition used for filtering a specific type of electronic mail;

a filter for filtering the specific type of mail from a received electronic mail based on the condition set by said condition setting means;

publishing means for publishing the specific type of electronic mail filtered by said filter in a publishing area;

interval setting means for setting a time interval; and

update means for updating the publishing area at the time interval set by said interval setting means.

28. An electronic-mail processing apparatus comprising:

condition setting means for setting a condition used for filtering a specific type of electronic mail;

a filter for filtering the specific type of electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the condition set by said condition setting means;

publishing means for publishing the specific type of electronic mail filtered by said filter in a publishing area;

period setting means for setting an electronic-mail publishing period; and

deletion means for deleting from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond the publishing period set by said period setting means.

30. An electronic-mail processing method comprising the steps of:

setting a condition used for filtering a publishable electronic mail;

filtering the publishable electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the condition set in said setting step; and

publishing the publishable electronic mail filtered in said filtering step in a publishing area for publishing to a plurality of users.

31. An electronic-mail processing method according to claim 30, further comprising the step of converting the publishable electronic mail filtered in said filtering step into a form suitable for the publishing area, wherein said publishing step publishes the electronic mail converted in said converting step.

34. An electronic-mail processing method according to claim 30, wherein the condition used for filtering comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

32. An electronic-mail processing method comprising the steps of:

setting a condition used for filtering a specific type of electronic mail;

filtering the specific type of electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the condition set in said setting step;

publishing the specific type of electronic mail filtered in said filtering step in a publishing area;

setting a time interval; and

updating the publishing area at the set time interval.

33. An electronic-mail processing method comprising the steps of:

setting a condition used for filtering a specific type of electronic mail;

filtering the specific type of electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the condition set in said setting step;

publishing the specific type of electronic mail filtered in said filtering step in a publishing area;

setting an electronic-mail publishing period; and

deleting from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond the set publishing period.

35. A computer-readable memory medium for storing a program for implementing an electronic-mail processing method, the program comprising:

programming code for setting a condition used for filtering a publishable electronic mail;

programming code for filtering the publishable electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the set condition; and

programming code for publishing the filtered publishable electronic mail in a publishing area for publishing to a plurality of users.

36. A memory medium according to claim 35, wherein the program further comprises programming code for converting the filtered publishable electronic mail into a form suitable for the publishing area, wherein said programming code for publishing publishes the electronic mail converted by said programming code for converting.

39. A memory medium according to claim 35, wherein the condition used for filtering comprises one keyword or a combination of a plurality of keywords.

37. A computer-readable memory medium for storing a program for implementing an electronic-mail processing method, the program comprising:

programming code for setting a condition used for filtering a specific type of electronic mail;

programming code for filtering the specific type of electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the set condition;

programming code for publishing the filtered specific type of electronic mail in a publishing area;

programming code for setting a time interval; and

programming code for updating the publishing area at the set time interval.

38. A computer-readable memory medium for storing a program for implementing an electronic-mail processing method, the program comprising:

programming code for setting a condition used for filtering a specific type of electronic mail;

programming code for filtering the specific type of electronic mail from a received electronic mail based on the set condition;

programming code for publishing the filtered specific type of electroinic mail in a publishing area;

programming code for setting a publishing period of electronic mail; and

programming code for deleting from the publishing area electronic mail that has expired beyond the set publishing period.