KR20000030315A - E-mail receiving confirmation method and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and a system for confirming an E-mail reception is provided to supply a real-time information about an E-mail receipt by inserting a confirmation module for confirming the E-mail receipt. CONSTITUTION: A system for confirming an E-mail reception comprises a transmission terminal(100), a reception terminal(200), a reception confirmation server(300), internet service providers(400,500), mail servers(410,510), and a program storage unit(110). The transmission terminal is connected with the reception terminal and the reception confirmation server. The reception terminal is connected with the transmission terminal. The internet service providers are connected with the transmission terminal and the reception terminal. The mail servers are connected the internet service providers. The program storage unit stores an OS program and a multitude of application program.

Description

E-mail receiving confirmation method and system therefor}

The present invention relates to a method and a system therefor for checking whether an e-mail is received, and in particular, after inserting and sending a predetermined confirmation module for acknowledgment when sending an e-mail, transmission and reception of the e-mail extracted by the confirmation module. The present invention relates to an e-mail receiving confirmation method and a system for providing e-mail acknowledgment information to a sender based on the received information.

Recently, with the development of the World Wide Web (WWW), as the number of users of the Internet based on the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) has soared, the E-MAIL service has been used as a medium for information transmission through the Internet. Usage is increasing significantly.

However, the e-mail service is convenient to use, but for example, if the e-mail is lost due to a network failure while being transmitted through the communication network, or the recipient cannot access the e-mail server for a long time, the e-mail service is urgently required. When sending an e-mail, the sender had a problem that it was difficult to receive confirmation whether the receiver correctly received the sent e-mail.

On the other hand, Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a brief configuration of a conventional email confirmation system.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a first user terminal connected to a web server 30 to be described later through the Internet 20, and 11 denotes a first user terminal 10 that transmits / receives an e-mail with the first user terminal 10 through the Internet 20. A second user terminal 30 is a web server connected to the first and second user terminals 10 and 11 and the Internet 20 to provide an email service, and to provide an email reception confirmation service according to a user's selection. 30.

At this time, in order to receive the e-mail service from the web server 30, the user goes through a predetermined registration procedure for specifying his / her ID (ID) to be used for inputting personal information and receiving e-mail on the home page, and then receiving the e-mail service and the reception thereof. Verification service will be available.

In addition, reference numeral 40 is a member information storage unit for storing personal information of a user subscribed to the e-mail service provided by the web server 30, for example, audi, name, age, address, etc., and 50 is a user's transmission or reception. It is an email storage for storing an email.

Meanwhile, although a plurality of user terminals are originally connected to the web server 30, in FIG. 1, the first and second subscriber terminals 10 and 11 are limited to the first and second subscriber terminals for convenience of description. The users of the terminals 10 and 11 are registered as members of the e-mail service provided by the web server 30.

That is, when the user of the first subscriber terminal 10 accesses the homepage of the web server 30 through his / her ID through a web browser, the web mail acknowledgment system having the above-described configuration may create and send and receive e-mails. An editor screen (not shown) for the output is output, and accordingly, the user of the first subscriber station 10 writes an e-mail that he / she wants to send. At this time, the editor screen is provided with a check box (not shown) for selecting an e-mail acknowledgment service that can check the reception date and time when the e-mail sent by the other party.

Therefore, when the user of the first subscriber terminal 10 transmits an email to the user of the second subscriber terminal 11 and selects an acknowledgment service, the web server 30 sends the second subscriber terminal. After checking the acknowledgment time and date in response to the e-mail acknowledgment of (11), a predetermined acknowledgment message is sent to the first subscriber, and the first subscriber accesses the web server 30. When you log in, you can see whether the e-mail was sent.

However, the conventional e-mail acknowledgment system can receive the acknowledgment service only after the users subscribe to the e-mail service in order to receive the acknowledgment service and access the web server that provides the corresponding service through a web browser. The user was inconvenient to receive a direct acknowledgment with his or her E-mail Client Program.

In addition, the conventional e-mail acknowledgment system described above may be applied only between e-mail service subscribers provided by the same web server. If the e-mail service subscribed to is different from the e-mail service subscribed to, the e-mail service can be received. There is no problem.

Accordingly, the present invention was created in view of the above circumstances, and when the e-mail is transmitted, a confirmation module for extracting predetermined transmission / reception information from the e-mail header is inserted and transmitted, and immediately after the transmission and in response to the e-mail confirmation of the recipient. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an e-mail reception confirmation method and a system for providing e-mail reception confirmation information to the sender based on the transmission and reception information extracted from the confirmation module.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional e-mail acknowledgment system.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the email confirmation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an e-mail acknowledgment program stored in the program storage of FIG.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the acknowledgment server of FIG.

5A and 5B illustrate information stored in the database of FIG. 4.

6A and 6B are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the e-mail acknowledgment system of Fig. 2;

*** Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ***

20: internet, 100: sender terminal,

110: program storage unit, 200: receiver terminal,

300: acknowledgment server, 320: acknowledgment processing unit,

322: program storage, 323: database,

323b: control unit.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an email acknowledgment method according to the present invention is a communication system in which at least one sender terminal and a receiver terminal are connected to the Internet through a server to transmit and receive data. A confirmation module insertion step of inserting a predetermined confirmation module for transmission, a transmission information transmission step of transmitting the predetermined transmission information extracted from the header of the email by the confirmation module to a reception confirmation server, and an e-mail in which the confirmation module is inserted. An e-mail transmission step of transmitting to an e-mail address of a receiver, a reception information transmission step of transmitting the predetermined reception information extracted from the header of the e-mail to the acknowledgment server in response to the e-mail confirmation of the recipient, and the acknowledgment; The server distinguishes the transmission information and the reception information transmitted from the confirmation module. By including the sender an e-mail acknowledgment message transmission step of transmitting a predetermined acknowledgment message, characterized in that configured.

In addition, an e-mail acknowledgment system according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a communication system in which at least one sender terminal and the receiver terminal is connected to the Internet through a line provider to transmit and receive data, the sender terminal is an email client And a storage means for storing an e-mail acknowledgment program plugged into the program and the e-mail client program and inserting a predetermined acknowledgment module for acknowledgment upon e-mail transmission. The acknowledgment program is connected to the sender terminal and the receiver terminal via the Internet. And an acknowledgment server for separating the predetermined transmission information and the reception information transmitted from the module and sending an e-mail acknowledgment message to the sender.

Next, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an e-mail acknowledgment system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 100 denotes a transmitter terminal connected to a receiver terminal 200 and an acknowledgment server 300 to be described later through the Internet 20, and 200 denotes the transmitter terminal 100 through the Internet 20. As a receiver terminal for transmitting and receiving emails, the sender terminal 100 and the receiver terminal 200 is a line provider (ISP: Internet Service Provider) (400, 500) for relaying the connection between the personal terminal and the Internet 20 Through e-mail service or web service, etc. can be provided.

That is, various services provided in the Internet 20 are managed by a server connected to the circuit provider (ISP), and general users access the corresponding service by accessing a server providing necessary services using their own terminals. As it is provided, the e-mail transmitted and received from the sender terminal 100 and the receiver terminal 200 is managed by the mail server (410, 510) connected to the line provider (400, 500).

In addition, when a plurality of terminals are connected to the server of the enterprise such as a local area network (LAN) of the enterprise through an Ethernet and connected to the Internet 20, an e-mail service or Since the web service can be provided, the sender terminal 100 and the receiver terminal 200 may be configured as a terminal connected to a server of an enterprise.

At this time, the server of the enterprise is provided with a router (router) or a hub (hub) to relay the connection between the Ethernet (ethernet) and the Internet (20).

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 110 denotes an email client program which stores a plurality of operating programs such as OS programs and utilities required for the operation of the terminal and is used by a user of the sender terminal 100 when sending and receiving an email. A program storage unit which is plugged into the e-mail client program and stores an e-mail acknowledgment program which will be described below for inserting a predetermined confirmation module for e-mail acknowledgment into an e-mail and transmitting the e-mail. Hard disks or magnetic disks used in the device may be used.

On the other hand, the e-mail client program is a program that allows a user to easily send or receive e-mails by connecting to a mail server, such as Outlook Express provided by Microsoft Corporation. Therefore, the function is expanded.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a module configuration of an e-mail acknowledgment program 111 stored in the program storage unit 110. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 111a denotes a predetermined number for confirming whether an e-mail is received. This is a confirmation module processing unit that creates a confirmation module of and inserts it into the corresponding email when sending an email.

That is, when the user of the sender terminal 100 connects to the mail server 410 of the line provider 400, creates an email using the email client program, and then sends the email to the recipient's email address. The confirmation module processing unit 111a inserts a predetermined confirmation module for acknowledgment of the received e-mail.

At this time, the confirmation module extracts the sender's email address and transmission time and the identification number specified in the email from the header of the transmitted email as sender information and transmits the packet data to the acknowledgment server 300. In addition, when the recipient accesses his or her e-mail server 510 and checks the received e-mail, predetermined recipient information such as the e-mail address of the sender, the e-mail address of the recipient, and the subject of the e-mail are sent from the header of the e-mail. In addition, the identification number and the date and time when the recipient has confirmed the e-mail are configured to transmit the packet data to the acknowledgment server 300.

In addition, in FIG. 3, reference numeral 111b is an environment setting unit for setting a transmission method of an acknowledgment message transmitted from the acknowledgment server 300 and a method of applying an acknowledgment service, and is set through the environment setting unit 111b. The transmission method of the acknowledgment message is included in the transmission information when the e-mail is transmitted to the acknowledgment server 300.

For example, the user may select and set a short message service (SMS) that notifies the receipt confirmation message to the e-mail notification or the user's mobile terminal as a method of transmitting an acknowledgment message through the environment setting unit 111b, As a method of applying the acknowledgment service, the acknowledgment service may be automatically applied to all the e-mails transmitted or may be set individually for each e-mail transmission.

In addition, in FIG. 3, reference numeral 111c denotes an acknowledgment unit for searching for an acknowledgment message transmitted from the acknowledgment server 300 to the sender. The user accesses the mail server 410 to determine whether the recipient checks the e-mail. Since the user can search through the acknowledgment unit 111c, the user can receive the e-mail acknowledgment service through his e-mail client program.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned e-mail acknowledgment program 111 is stored on a CD (Compact Disk) or diskette distributed free from the provider, the user can receive the e-mail acknowledgment by installing (install) on a computer device, which is his terminal Will be.

And, reference numeral 111d is a service subscription processing unit for receiving the user's e-mail address when the user installs the e-mail acknowledgment program 111 to the terminal automatically transmitted to the acknowledgment server 300, the user is a separate E-mail acknowledgment service can be provided easily without going through the registration process.

4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the acknowledgment server shown in FIG. 2, which includes an input terminal 340 such as a modem 310, an acknowledgment processor 320, a monitor 330, and a keyboard. The acknowledgment processing unit 320 includes a data storage unit 322 for temporarily storing data to be transmitted and received, a program storage unit 322 for storing an operation program for controlling the operation of the server, and a database ( 323 and a control unit 324 for controlling the operation of the server based on the operation program. The monitor 330 and the input terminal 340 are used by the administrator to control the server.

In addition, when the acknowledgment server 300 is present in a network such as Ethernet, a separate Ethernet card (not shown) may be provided instead of the modem 310.

The control unit 324 performs a communication function with a plurality of sender terminals and receiver terminals based on the operation program of the program storage unit 322, and separates the transmission information and the received information transmitted from the confirmation module. After updating the database 323, a predetermined e-mail acknowledgment message is sent to the sender based on the data stored in the database 323.

At this time, the controller 324 reads the date and time when the recipient checks the corresponding e-mail, the subject of the confirmed e-mail, the e-mail address of the recipient, etc. from the database 323, creates an e-mail acknowledgment message, and sends it to the sender. Will be processed.

In addition, the method of transmitting the e-mail acknowledgment message may be to directly send an e-mail notification to the sender's e-mail address, or to provide a short message service to the sender's mobile terminal. For example, the short message service is connected to a base station of a mobile terminal through a public network and provides a server of a short message service center (not shown) which provides a text message and the acknowledgment server 300 to be provided in connection with the Internet 20. Can be.

On the other hand, the operation program is provided with a GUI (Graphic User Interface) module, the control unit 324 is the personal information of the subscriber for subscribing to the e-mail confirmation service based on the operation program, for example, the subscriber's e-mail address, mobile terminal number, etc. The control unit is configured to output a predetermined input screen (not shown) for inputting or modifying the menu and a predetermined menu screen (not shown) for downloading the e-mail acknowledgment program 111 on the homepage of the server.

That is, the user subscribes to the e-mail acknowledgment service according to the installation process of the e-mail acknowledgment program 111 or, if the e-mail acknowledgment program 111 is not present, places a web browser on the homepage of the acknowledgment server 300. After connecting, you can download the program and subscribe to the e-mail acknowledgment service.

Thereafter, when the user's subscription to the email acknowledgment service is completed by the above-described procedure, the control unit 324 generates a predetermined management ID corresponding to the email address of the corresponding subscriber and displays the transmission information and the reception information of each subscriber. It is controlled to store the information in the internal database 323 by classifying it as a reference.

That is, the database 323 includes the sender's e-mail address 611, the e-mail identification number 612, the transmission time 613, and the sender's mobile terminal number based on the management ID 600 as shown in FIG. 5A. 614, an e-mail notification 615, and a short message service (SMS) 616 are stored in the user information storage unit 323a.

In addition, the database 323 has an e-mail address 621 of the recipient, a subject 622 of the e-mail sent, an identification number 623 of the e-mail, and an acknowledgment based on the management ID 600 as shown in FIG. 5B. Data consisting of a time 624 and an acknowledgment flag 625 is stored separately in the email information storage unit 323b.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the sender whose management ID 600 is A1 sends an email to the recipient whose email address is han@wintec.co.kr on August 23, 07:15, identification number 001. E-mail address sent to a recipient with an email address of son@hansol.co.kr on August 23, 15:42, and an identification number 002 will be assigned to the e-mail address. Can be processed. At this time, the reference parameter (parameter) is the management ID 600 of the sender and the identification number 612 of the e-mail transmitted.

In addition, when the receiver checks the same e-mail one or more times, the control unit 324 prevents the acknowledgment message from being sent to the sender whenever the acknowledgment is received. If it is checked at 625, the receiving information for the same e-mail is not transmitted again.

In addition, the transmission information includes a method of transmitting an acknowledgment message designated by the sender. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, an e-mail having an identification number 001 transmitted from a sender whose management ID 600 is A2 is shown in FIG. When the acknowledgment is received, the acknowledgment server 300 transmits an e-mail acknowledgment message to the sender according to the contents checked in the e-mail notification 615 and the short message service (SMS: 616). To the sender 600 of A2, only the mail in which the acknowledgment message is written is transmitted to the mail server 410, and the short message service (SMS) is not executed.

On the other hand, the data memory 321 provided in the acknowledgment processing unit 320 of FIG. 4 is for temporarily storing various types of processing data executed by the program storage unit 322, for example, RAM (Random Access Memorry) or It consists of a hard disk.

In addition, although the database 323 of FIG. 4 is illustrated as being configured in the acknowledgment processor 320, it is also preferable to configure it as a separate file server.

Next, the operation of the e-mail acknowledgment system having the above-described configuration will be described.

6A and 6B are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the email confirmation system.

The user writes an e-mail using an e-mail client program (step ST1), and then accesses the mail server 410 of the line provider (ISP) 400 connected through the sender terminal 100 and the Internet 20 (ST2). step)

In this case, the e-mail client program accesses the mail server 410 using, for example, POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) or IMAP4, which is a protocol generally used when a mail server and an e-mail client are connected.

Then, the user enters the recipient's email address on the input screen (city screen) of the email client program (step ST3), and determines whether or not to confirm the email reception to the configuration unit 111b of the email confirmation program 111 The method of sending an acknowledgment message is selected by using a mouse or a key to the e-mail or SMS service provided by the user. (ST4 step)

At this time, when the user does not select the acknowledgment message transmission function, a general e-mail transmission operation is performed (step ST5), and when the acknowledgment message transmission function is selected, the confirmation module processing unit 111b of the e-mail acknowledgment program 111. ) Will insert the verification module into the email when it is sent (step ST6).

Thereafter, the confirmation module extracts the sender's e-mail address and transmission time from the header of the e-mail, and the identification number and acknowledgment message transmission method specified in the e-mail, and transmits the packet data to the acknowledgment server 300 as transmission information. (Step ST7), the email transmitted to the recipient's email address is stored in the mail server 510 connected to the recipient terminal 200. (ST8 step)

Then, when the recipient accesses the mail server 510 and checks the corresponding email (step ST9), the confirmation module responds to the received information from the header of the email, that is, the sender's email address, the recipient's email address, and the transmission. The title, identification number of the received email and the date and time when the recipient confirmed the email are extracted and sent to the acknowledgment server 300 as packet data. (ST10 step)

At this time, the control unit 324 of the acknowledgment server 300 updates the internal database 323 by separating the transmission information transmitted in step ST7 and the reception information transmitted in step ST510, and then the receiver receives the corresponding email. The confirmation date and time, the subject of the confirmed email and the recipient's email address are read from the database 323 to create an email acknowledgment message. (ST11)

Thereafter, the acknowledgment server 300 transmits the acknowledgment message to the sender according to whether the e-mail notification or the short message service included in the transmission information is selected. When the sender selects the e-mail notification, the e-mail containing the acknowledgment message is displayed. Is sent to the sender's e-mail address. (ST12, ST13)

On the other hand, when the sender does not select the e-mail notification in step ST11 and after the e-mail notification is executed in step ST513, the control unit 324 of the acknowledgment server 300 selects whether the short message service is selected from the user information storage unit 323a. (Step ST14), if the short message service is selected, the mobile station number of the sender is read again from the user information storage unit 323a and the e-mail acknowledgment message is sent to the sender's mobile terminal. ST16 step)

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, it is possible to receive an acknowledgment of an e-mail transmitted using an e-mail client program through an e-mail or a short message service.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified in various ways without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, by inserting and sending a confirmation module for acknowledgment when sending an e-mail, the sender / receive information necessary for acknowledgment is extracted, and the acknowledgment server separates and processes it to the sender's e-mail address or mobile terminal. As the e-mail acknowledgment message is sent and processed, the sender can conveniently receive the acknowledgment message through his or her e-mail client program or mobile terminal.

In addition, the conventional e-mail acknowledgment system was able to receive acknowledgment only between e-mail service subscribers provided by the same web server, but in the present invention, the sender's terminal is transmitted and received by the acknowledgment module inserted during e-mail transmission. The acknowledgment server separates the information and notifies the sender of the acknowledgment message. The sender can receive the acknowledgment without subscribing to the e-mail acknowledgment service provided by the web server.

In addition, according to the present invention, when the e-mail acknowledgment program is installed, the e-mail acknowledgment service is automatically subscribed, so that the user can receive the acknowledgment service without going through a separate subscription procedure.

Claims (17)

A communication system in which at least one sender terminal and a receiver terminal are connected to the Internet through a server to transmit and receive data, Confirmation module insertion step of inserting a predetermined confirmation module for acknowledgment in the corresponding email when sending the email, A transmission information transmission step of transmitting, by the confirmation module, predetermined transmission information extracted from a header of the email to a reception confirmation server; An email transmission step of transmitting the email with the verification module inserted to a recipient's email address, A reception information transmission step of transmitting, by the confirmation module, the received reception information extracted from the header of the email to the reception confirmation server in response to the confirmation of the email of the recipient; And an e-mail acknowledgment message transmitting step of transmitting a predetermined acknowledgment message to the sender by processing the acknowledgment server to separate the transmission information and the reception information transmitted from the acknowledgment module. The method of claim 1, The e-mail acknowledgment message transmitting step comprises transmitting the acknowledgment message to the sender's e-mail address from the internal database of the acknowledgment server. The method of claim 1, The e-mail receiving confirmation message transmission step is characterized in that for processing the transmission confirmation message sent to the sender's mobile terminal. The method of claim 1, And the transmission information comprises at least one of an e-mail address and a transmission time of a sender, and an identification number of the e-mail and a method of transmitting an acknowledgment message. The method according to claim 1 or 4, The received information comprises at least one of an e-mail address of a sender, an e-mail address of a receiver, a title of a sent e-mail, an identification number of the corresponding e-mail, and a date and time at which the recipient checks the e-mail. . The method of claim 1, And the e-mail acknowledgment message comprises at least one of a date and time when the e-mail recipient confirms the e-mail, a subject of the e-mail confirmed and the e-mail address of the e-mail address. A communication system in which at least one sender terminal and a receiver terminal are connected to the Internet through a line provider to transmit and receive data, The sender terminal includes a storage means for storing an e-mail acknowledgment program which is plugged into an operation program and an e-mail client program of the terminal and inserts a predetermined acknowledgment module for acknowledgment upon e-mail transmission. And an acknowledgment server connected to the sender terminal and the receiver terminal through the Internet to separate the predetermined transmission information and the reception information transmitted from the confirmation module and to send an e-mail acknowledgment message to the sender. Email Acknowledgment System. The method of claim 7, wherein The acknowledgment server distinguishes and processes a database in which internal data is updated based on the transmission information and the reception information, a program storage unit storing an operation program of the acknowledgment server, and transmission information and reception information based on the operation program. And a control unit for transmitting a predetermined e-mail acknowledgment message to a sender after updating the database. The method of claim 7, wherein And the transmission information comprises at least one of an e-mail address and a transmission time of a sender, and an identification number of the e-mail and a method of transmitting an acknowledgment message. The method according to claim 7 or 9, The received information comprises at least one of an email address of a sender, an email address of a receiver, a title of a sent email, an identification number of the corresponding email, and a date and time at which the recipient checks the email. . The method of claim 8, And the controller of the acknowledgment server controls to generate a predetermined management ID corresponding to the e-mail address of the user. The method of claim 11, The database stores the user information in which the user information consisting of at least one of the sender's e-mail address, the e-mail identification number, the transmission time, the sender's mobile terminal number, the e-mail notification, and whether the short message service is executed is stored based on the management ID. E-mail acknowledgment system characterized in that it comprises a. The method according to claim 11 or 12, The database includes an e-mail information storage unit configured to store e-mail information consisting of at least one of an e-mail address of a recipient, a subject of an e-mail transmitted, an e-mail identification number, an acknowledgment time, and an acknowledgment flag based on the management ID. E-mail acknowledgment system, characterized in that. The method of claim 13, The acknowledgment server checks this in the acknowledgment flag at the first acknowledgment, and does not send an e-mail acknowledgment message to the sender when the acknowledgment information for the same e-mail is transmitted again. The method of claim 7, wherein The e-mail acknowledgment program includes an acknowledgment module processing unit for generating and inserting an acknowledgment module during e-mail transmission, an environment setting unit for setting a method of transmitting a acknowledgment message and applying a acknowledgment service, and a sender from the acknowledgment server. And an acknowledgment unit for searching for an acknowledgment message sent to the e-mail acknowledgment system. The method according to claim 7 or 15, The e-mail acknowledgment program is configured to include a service subscription processing unit for receiving the e-mail address of the user when installed in the user's terminal and transmits to the acknowledgment server. The method of claim 7, wherein And the e-mail acknowledgment message comprises at least one of a date and time when the e-mail recipient confirms the e-mail, a subject of the acknowledgment e-mail, and an e-mail address of the e-mail address.