System and method for effective mail transmission

• US 8,161,115 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2002
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Gaku
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thu
• Assistant Examiner(s): WIDHALM, ANGELA M
• Application Number:
  US10/170,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20030018727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,596 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.36, 709/227, 709/204, 709/206, 709/249, 358/400, 707/10, 707/200
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding

Abstract

A system and method for rapidly transmitting a large volume of e-mails. Based on domain names obtained from destination mailing addresses, a server 10 for a sender sorts e-mails to be transmitted, generates transfer data for each domain name by grouping e-mail data, and uses FTP to transmit the transfer data to servers 30 for distributors whose domain names correspond to those for which the transfer data were generated. At this time, compression is effective for improving the transmission of the transfer data. The server 30, upon receiving transfer data, analyzes the received transfer data to obtain the data for individual e-mails, and distributes the e-mail data to the mail boxes of individual recipients.

Claims

1. A system for transmitting e-mail data to a plurality of recipients via a network, comprising:

reception means for receiving the e-mail data that includes destination address information, domain information included therein and mail text information;

transmission data generation means for querying a domain information database to determine if said domain information is registered in said domain information database and for grouping multiple sets of the e-mail data by the domain information when said domain information is registered in said domain information database to generate transmission data, wherein a set comprises e-mail data addressed to multiple different recipients having common domain information;

domain information database for storing the domain information which allows grouping of the multiple sets of the e-mail data;

first transmission means for transmitting said generated transmission data via said network to a computer system designated based on said domain information using at least one of FTP (file transfer protocol) and HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol);

second transmission means for transmitting each set of the e-mail data one by one via said network using SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol), if it is determined that the domain information has not yet been registered in said domain information database; and

collector means for collecting e-mail transmission information for use in charging for transmission of e-mail data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said transmission data generation means generates said transmission data at a predetermined timing.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said transmission data generation means generates said transmission data by extracting said destination address information and said mail text information from the e-mail data.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said transmission data generation means generates said transmission data based on the e-mail data that includes, as said mail text information, template data that forms a mail text and keyword data that is to be inserted into said template data.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said transmission data generation means generates said transmission data based on said e-mail data that includes, as said mail text information, data for designating a template that forms a mail text and keyword data that is to be inserted into said template.

11. The system according to claim 1 wherein said transmission data comprises at least one set of e-mail data, domain information and at least one of template information, advertisement information and priority information.

6. An electronic mail (e-mail) method for an e-mail system having a domain database, comprising the steps of:

receiving e-mail data including mail text information and destination address information, which includes domain information;

querying said domain database with said domain information to determine if said domain information has been registered with the domain database, whereby e-mail data is to be grouped for transmission;

grouping the e-mail data by the domain information into one or more sets, wherein a set comprises e-mail data addressed to multiple different recipients having common domain information;

generating transmission data for said one or more sets, based on grouped e-mail data wherein said transmission data comprises at least a set of e-mail data and domain information;

transmitting said transmission data to a computer system that is designated by said domain information via the network; and

collecting transmission information for use in charging for transmission of e-mail data.

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

receiving, at the computer system, said transmission data that includes the destination address information for said recipients, and the mail text information to be distributed to recipients; and

generating the e-mail data from said transmission data, for each of said recipients, that includes the destination address information and the mail text information.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of distributing the e-mail data to each of said recipients, based on the destination address information.

9. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program product executed on a computer for performing a method of transmitting e-mail data, comprising the steps of:

receiving the e-mail data including mail text information and destination address information, which includes domain information;

querying said domain database with said domain information to determine if said domain information has been registered with the domain database, whereby e-mail data is to be grouped for transmission;

grouping the e-mail data by the domain information into one or more sets, wherein a set comprises e-mail data addressed to multiple different recipients having common domain information;

generating transmission data for said one or more sets, based on grouped e-mail data wherein said transmission data comprises at least a set of e-mail data and domain information;

transmitting said transmission data to a computer system that is designated by said domain information via the network; and

collecting transmission information for use in charging for transmission of e-mail data.

10. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 9, wherein, said generating step further comprises the step of adding paired identification tags at the start and the end of a block having said destination address information and said mail text information.