Server device and method for providing e-mail service, and information recording medium recording a program for realizing the service

• US 6,985,925 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2001
• Issued: 01/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OL Security LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hideharu Ogawa
• Inventors: Ogawa, Hideharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Application Number:
  US09/938,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20020026488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-207, 709238-245
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A receiver receives e-mails. In the case where an address of an e-mail is a user'"'"'s e-mail address which is managed by another e-mail server device, a transfer unit transfers the e-mail to the another e-mail server device. In the case where an address of an e-mail is a user'"'"'s e-mail address which is managed by an e-mail server device including an inquiry unit, this inquiry unit inquires of the corresponding user whether to accept the e-mail to be delivered from its e-mail addresser. In the case where the user does not accept the e-mail to be delivered, a notification unit sends a message for informing the addresser that there is no user having a public e-mail address. In the case where the conditions for delivering an e-mail are all satisfied, a delivery unit delivers the e-mail to a user having a public e-mail address.

Claims

1. An e-mail server device which manages user information including at least one user, the user information specifying an e-mail address as a public e-mail address owned by the at least one user and another e-mail address as an individual e-mail address owned by the at least one user, and delivers an e-mail to the at least one user specified in the user information, said device comprising:

a receiver which receives e-mails;

a transfer unit which transfers, in a case where an address of the received e-mail is not managed by the e-mail server device but it managed by another e-mail server device, the received e-mail to the another e-mail server device;

an inquiry unit which inquires of the at least one user, in a case where the address of the received e-mail is the public e-mail address owned by the user specified in the user information managed by the e-mail server device, whether to accept the received e-mail to be delivered from its addresser;

a notification unit which notifies the addresser of the received e-mail that there is no user owning the address of the received e-mail, in a case where the at least one user does not accept the received e-mail to be delivered from the addresser as a result of the inquiry;

a delivery unit which delivers the received e-mail to the user owning the public e-mail address, in a case where a delivery condition for delivering the e-mail is satisfied;

an individual-address selector which selects an individual e-mail address managed by said e-mail address server, in association with the addresser of the e-mail and the user owning the public e-mail address corresponding to the addressee of the received e-mail, in a case where the received e-mail is accepted to be delivered from the addresser as a result of the inquiry;

an individual address informer which informs the addresser of the e-mail about the selected individual e-mail address; and

an individual address recorder which records information representing the user as a target user owning the public e-mail address of the received e-mail and information representing the addresser as an informed-addresser, in association with the selected-individual e-mail address, and

wherein the delivery condition is satisfied, in a case where the address of the received e-mail is the individual e-mail address recorded on said individual address recorder and information representing the addresser of the e-mail is recorded as an informed addresser, thereby the delivery unit delivers the e-mail to the user as the target user.

2. The e-mail server device according to claim 1, further comprising

an allowed-addresser recorder which records information representing the addresser of the received e-mail as an allowed addresser in association with the public e-mail address, in a case where the at least one user accepts the received e-mail to be delivered from the addresser as a result of the inquiry, and

wherein the delivery condition is satisfied, in a case where the information representing the addresser of the received e-mail is recorded as the allowed addresser on said allowed-addresser recorder in association with a public e-mail address of the address of the e-mail.

3. The e-mail server device according to claim 1, wherein:

said individual address selector selects, as an individual e-mail address, an e-mail address generated by converting characters of the public e-mail address of the received email; and

the original public e-mail address is generated from the individual e-mail address as a resultant address of the character conversion, thereby achieving character reverse conversion of the individual e-mail address.

4. The e-mail server device according to claim 3, wherein a predetermined character string is added in a user name of the public e-mail address, thereby achieving the character conversion of the public e-mail address.

5. The e-mail server device according to claim 1, further comprising

a rewriting unit which rewrites the public e-mail address owned by the addresser specified in the e-mail into the individual e-mail address owned by the addresser recorded in association with the addresser and the addressee, in a case where rewriting conditions that

(i) the addresser of the received e-mail is the public e-mail address owned by the user specified in the user information managed by said e-mail server device, and that

(ii) the individual address recorder records information representing the addressee of the received e-mail as an informed addresser and information representing the user owning the public e-mail address as a target user, in association with a corresponding individual e-mail address,

are satisfied, and

wherein said transfer unit transfers an e-mail having the address rewritten by the rewriter instead of the received e-mail, in a case where the above rewriting conditions are satisfied.

11. A computer readable information recording medium which records a program for controlling a computer to function as said e-mail server device according to claim 1.

12. The computer readable information recording medium according to claim 11, wherein said information recording medium is a computer disk, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a digital video disk, a magnetic tape, or a semiconductor memory.

6. A method for providing an e-mail service for managing information regarding at least one user and his/her e-mail address and for sending e-mails to the at least one user, the user information specifying an e-mail address as a public e-mail address owned by the at least one user and another e-mail address as an individual e-mail address owned by the at least one user, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving an e-mail;

transferring the received e-mail to another e-mail server device, in a case where an address of the received e-mail is not managed by said method for managing the e-mail service;

inquiring of the at least one user whether to accept the received e-mail to be delivered, in a case where the address of the received e-mail is a public e-mail address of owned by the at least one user which is managed by said method for providing e-mail service;

informing, in a case where the received e-mail is not accepted to be delivered from an addresser of the e-mail as a result of inquiring of the user, the user of the received e-mail that there is no user owning the address of the received e-mail;

delivering the received e-mail to a user owning the public e-mail address, in a case where a delivery condition for delivering the received e-mail is satisfied;

selecting the individual e-mail address managed by said method for providing an email service, in association with the user owning the public e-mail address corresponding to the addressee of the received e-mail and with the addresser of the received e-mail, in a case where the received e-mail is accented to be delivered from the addresser as a result of the inquiring;

informing the addresser of the received e-mail about the selected individual e-mail address; and

recording information representing the user as a target user owning the public e-mail address corresponding to the addressee of the received e-mail and information representing the addresser as an informed-addresser which is informed about the individual e-mail address, and

wherein the delivery condition is satisfied, in a case where the addressee of the received e-mail is the individual e-mail address recorded at said individual address recording step and where information representing the addresser of the received e-mail is recorded as an informed-addresser, thereby the e-mail is delivered to the user specified as the target user in the recorded information at said delivering step.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of

recording information representing the addresser of the received e-mail as an allowed addresser, in association with the public e-mail address, in a case where e-mails are accepted to be delivered from the addresser of the received e-mail as a result of the inquiry, and

wherein the delivery condition is satisfied, in a case where information specifying the addresser of the received e-mail is recorded as an allowed addresser in association with the public e-mail address corresponding to the addressee of the received e-mail at said the information recording step.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

a resultant address created by converting a character code of the public e-mail address corresponding to the addressee of the received e-mail is selected as an individual e-mail address at said individual-address selecting step; and

the original public e-mail address is generated from the individual e-mail address as a resultant address of the character conversion, thereby achieving character reverse conversion of the individual e-mail address.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the character conversion is so performed that a resultant address including a predetermined character string in a user name of the public e-mail address is obtained.

10. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of

rewriting the public e-mail address of the addresser specified in the e-mail into the individual e-mail address of the addresser recorded in association with the addresser and the addressee, in a case where rewriting conditions that

(i) the addresser of the received e-mail is the public e-mail address owned by the user specified in the user information managed by said e-mail sever device, and that

(ii) information representing the addressee of the received e-mail as an informed addresser and information representing the user owning the public e-mail address as a target user are recorded at said individual-address recording step, in association with a corresponding individual e-mail address, are satisfied, and

wherein an e-mail having the address rewritten by the rewriter instead of the received e-mail is transferred at said transferring step, in a case where the above rewriting conditions are satisfied.

13. A computer readable information recording medium which records a program for controlling a computer to execute the method for providing an e-mail service, according to claim 6.