Electronic mail client device, server device and electronic mail system connecting the same devices together

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD [Detailed description of the invention]

【0001】

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

The present invention relates to a client / server type e-mail system, and in particular, an e-mail client device capable of sending a message with anonymity and another e-mail client device on a network by accumulating an e-mail file containing such a message. The present invention relates to an e-mail system including an e-mail server device capable of appropriately delivering the e-mail.

【0002】

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, as a result of the rapid progress in the dramatic improvement in performance and price reduction of computers, the environment in which so-called personal computers can be easily used has been established at the home level and the individual level. On the other hand, the high-speed communication infrastructure has been improved, and various service providers have come to provide various communication services, and it has become possible to easily access the Internet from companies and homes. With the enhancement of the surrounding environment, the number of users of e-mail via the Internet is rapidly increasing as a communication medium that can be easily used at the individual level, along with telephones and facsimiles.

【0003】

When e-mail is used by many people in this way, he wants to establish and use a unique communication form unique to the new media called e-mail, rather than just exchanging information that can be done by ordinary letters and telephones. The movement has come out. Against this background, the applicant of the present application has made it possible to send information by e-mail with anonymity, without the purpose of active communication with a specific person. In the issue, an e-mail client device that can send a message anonymously and an e-mail file containing such a message are accumulated and delivered to any other e-mail client device on the network at an indefinite time. Proposed an e-mail system that includes an e-mail server device that can be delivered without fail. The applicant of the present application has provided a communication service using the system, but at the same time as confirming that the intended purpose has been sufficiently achieved, points to be improved through actual service operation emerged. I came.

【0004】

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

First of all, although the main purpose is monologue communication as mentioned above, there is also a strong demand for some kind of response to the message that I sent. However, according to the specifications of the system, the mail received by oneself is an anonymous mail that does not have data such as the sender's address, so even if some message is added to the mail and the mail is forwarded, the sender is the forwarded mail. There is no guarantee that you will receive. In other words, it is virtually impossible to intentionally reply to the sender of the received mail.

【0005】

In addition, unfortunately, some users were unwilling to use it in a way that is offensive to public order and morals, such as abusing the anonymity of outgoing emails to slander others or sending emails containing vulgar images. Therefore, it was also found that it is necessary to improve the system specifications so that the majority of general users can use it with peace of mind, considering that emails with contents that violate such terms of use are not desirable.

【0006】

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned problems and other problems extracted as a result of operating the above-mentioned system, and its main purpose is to specify while basically transmitting a message having anonymity. It is to provide an e-mail system that enables replies to received e-mails and suppresses use that is offensive to public order and morals.

【0007】

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the e-mail client device according to the present invention has the following requirements (1) to (7). (1) Convert the text data and / or graphic data input by the user into image data in a predetermined data format. (2) An e-mail file containing the image data of (1) and automatically attached with a predetermined mailbox address on the communication network to which this client device is connected as a destination address is generated. (3) The e-mail file of (2) includes a user ID uniquely given to the user who is the sender, and if the user wishes to reply, also includes information to the effect that he / she wishes to reply. (4) When the user requests the transmission of the e-mail file according to (2) or (3), the e-mail file is transmitted to a predetermined mailbox on the communication network according to a predetermined condition. (5) The e-mail file transferred from the predetermined mailbox is received and stored, and the incoming status of the e-mail file is displayed according to the predetermined conditions. (6) When you receive an e-mail file with the information that you want to reply, an image element indicating that the e-mail has the status you want to reply to is displayed. When the user performs a predetermined operation on the image element, the user can reply to the source of the e-mail file, and the e-mail file (2) including the user ID of the destination user is generated. (7) The image data contained in the received e-mail file is displayed to the user of the client device who received the e-mail file.

【0008】

At this time, the refusal to receive the e-mail with the user ID that is the originator of the e-mail may be registered by performing a predetermined operation on the e-mail file received by the user.

【0009】

Further, when the user performs a predetermined operation on the image element and replies to the e-mail file, the image data contained in the received e-mail file is reduced and pasted in a part thereof. A reply screen may be generated.

【0010】

Further, the display form of the received e-mail file may be changed based on the information given to the received e-mail file according to the communication protocol. For example, the outgoing time data given to the received e-mail file may be changed. And the current time are compared, and the longer the elapsed time, the more the image data of the e-mail file is displayed in the form described on the paper in which the change over time is more visually expressed. be able to.

【0011】

Next, the e-mail server device according to the present invention has the following requirements (61) to (64). (61) A unique user ID is issued to each user, and a user record containing at least a plurality of combinations of those e-mail addresses and user IDs for them is held. (62) Check the e-mail file uploaded by the user, and if the user ID in (1) is not included, generate a unique user ID that is different from any of the already issued user IDs, and that user Give to the email address of. After that, the e-mail file and other e-mail files are stored in a predetermined mailbox in chronological order. (63) When the user logs in, the e-mail file stored in the mailbox is searched, and if there is an e-mail file to which the user ID of the user is specified as the destination, the e-mail file is selected and the user is selected. Send to and delete the sent email file from your mailbox. If there is no applicable e-mail file, the e-mail file selected from the e-mail files stored in the mailbox according to the specified conditions is sent to the user, and the sent e-mail file is deleted from the mailbox. .. (64) Process the transmission / reception process with these multiple users in parallel so that multiple users can log in.

【0012】

In addition, the following requirements (71) and (72) may be further provided. (71) Record the user ID corresponding to the sender's e-mail address notified by the user in the user record of the user. (72) The user ID of the logged-in user is taken out, the corresponding user record is inspected, and an e-mail file from the user with the user ID registered in the user record for rejection is stored in the mailbox. If so, the email file will be processed so that it is not selected.

【0013】

Further, it is preferable not to store an e-mail file from a user having a specific user ID corresponding to a predetermined condition in the mailbox. For example, the user ID is recorded in a predetermined number or more of user records and an incoming call rejection setting is set. If so, the e-mail file from the user may not be stored in the mailbox.

【0014】

It is also possible to limit the number of incoming e-mail files from the same user to which the same user ID is given to a certain number for a predetermined time.

【0015】

In the e-mail system according to the present invention, the e-mail client device and the e-mail server device are connected via a communication network, and the e-mail file destination address of the e-mail client device is used. , The address of the mailbox of the e-mail server device is specified.

【0016】

The computer program read by the e-mail client device and performing the operations described in (1) to (7) is stored in a computer-readable recording medium and moved.

【0017】

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The e-mail system according to one embodiment of the present invention is similar to the system proposed by the applicant of the present application in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-341253, and the entire system is based on the metaphor of "a bottle containing a letter floating in the ocean". It is characterized by being constructed. However, such metaphors are not necessarily limited to the sea, and other settings such as "balloons with mail floating in the sky" can be adopted. Also, instead of the bottle, other items such as shells and balloons may be set to drift or drift.

【0018】

In the present specification, the e-mail system according to the present invention is simply referred to as a "mail system". In addition, the e-mail data file distributed in this system is simply called "e-mail".

【0019】

(A) System overview FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a mail system. The mail system of FIG. 1 has an e-mail server device S connected to the Internet INET and a plurality of e-mail client devices C also connected to the Internet INET.

【0020】

The server device S includes an HTTP server 10 that receives mail from client device C, and an HTTP server 20 that forwards mail to client device C. The mail received by the HTTP server 10 is stored in the mailbox 30. Further, not only the mail received from the client device C but also the mail including the message to be sent from the server device S to each client device C may be stored in the mailbox 30. Such messages may include various notifications from the system to the subscriber (each client device C), corporate advertisements, public relations, and the like.

【0021】

The reason for adopting the HTTP server as the mail server is that it is often the case that a separation system called a firewall is inserted between the network such as a corporate LAN and the Internet. A firewall provides a kind of filter between the network and the Internet by using a PROXY server or the like in order to ensure the security in the network. When a normal SMTP / POP protocol mail server is adopted, there are cases where anonymous mail such as the system of the present application is blocked by a firewall as a result of analysis of header information. Therefore, HTML mail, which is a standard file format of WWW and is unlikely to be blocked by a general firewall, is adopted. However, it is basically possible to realize the system of the present application by the SMTP / POP protocol without any problem.

【0022】

Client device C is generally a personal computer equipped with hardware (modem, TA, etc.) and software (TCP / IP connection software, etc.) for connecting to the Internet INET, and mail system client software is installed. To subscribe to the mail system of the present invention, for example, it is only necessary to install the mail system client software on a personal computer on hand that can connect to the Internet INET, whereby the personal computer becomes the server device S as the client device C. You will be able to access it.

【0023】

The client software can be produced as so-called shareware by restricting some functions until a password issued separately by the system is entered. For example, you can limit the number of emails you can send until you register your software. In addition, if personal information registered as a function restriction release condition when a user registers shareware is associated with data such as a password given as the release condition and saved by a server described later, a certain registered user. If another user uses the password without registering the shareware, the other user will be recognized by the server as the same person as the original user, which is an illegal copy of himself / herself. All messages sent using client software will be originated by the original legitimate user. This would make it meaningless to use the mail system of the present application, and would effectively deter such illegal copying of client software.

【0024】

(B) Function of client device C Next, the functions provided by the client device C will be described with reference to the attached flowchart.

【0025】

(a) Generate and send emails FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a mail generation and transmission routine of the client device C. Here, it is assumed that the mail system client software has already been started.

【0026】

First, the user who wants to write an email writes a character string (text data) or a picture (graphic data) as desired on the new email creation screen (step 202). This is similar to general paint software. Then, these input data are converted into PNG format image data, which is one of the standard graphics data file formats on the Internet (step 204). Here, the PNG format is adopted as the image data format because it is a standard format recommended by the WWW Consortium and has a feature that it can be compressed without image deterioration. However, this does not preclude the application of other image formats such as GIF, JPEG, BMP, PICT, TIFF to the present invention.

【0027】

The user can give the status that he wants to reply to the mail containing the message he created and send it (step 206, Yes). Specifically, when the user clicks an appropriate image element on the screen, for example, the tag icon, the reply request flag and the user ID are included in the predetermined fields, and the mailbox address of the server device S is the destination address. Is generated from the converted image data (step 208). This user ID is assigned by the server device S when the user first sends an e-mail using the client software. Details will be described later with respect to the description of the server device S.

【0028】

If the user selects normal mail transmission that he / she does not want to reply to (step 206, No), the reply unnecessary flag and user ID are given, and at the same time, the mailbox address of the server device S is sent from the converted image data. The email given as the destination address is generated (step 210). This e-mail is an anonymous e-mail with an unspecified destination that does not include a specific destination e-mail address and information that can identify the sender, in addition to the mailbox address of the server device S being designated as the destination address. However, if the sender wants to clarify his / her identity, he / she may write his / her own e-mail address and name in the e-mail.

【0029】

In addition, a voice input device such as a microphone or a sound board is incorporated in the client device C to capture the voice, and the sound file generated by the voice input device (WAV format, etc. Of course, a ready-made sound file may be used) is sent to the mail. It may be added. Alternatively, you can attach a video file such as a QuickTime movie file.

【0030】

Here, if the client device C is connected to the Internet INET (step 212 Yes), it is immediately sent to the server device S (step 214). Then, it is determined whether or not there is an unsent mail that has already been generated but has not been sent to the server device S, and if there is such an unsent mail (step 218 Yes), it is sent to the server device S. (Step 220). If the client device C is not connected to the Internet INET (step 212 No), the generated mail is stored in a predetermined storage area in the client device C to prepare for the next transmission timing (step 216).

【0031】

(b) Processing of received emails FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the subsequent processing of the mail received by the client device C. When there is a received mail and the content of the mail is read (step 302,304Yes), the display of the client device C (generally a CRT display, but of course another display element may be used). The content of the received e-mail, that is, the PNG format image data contained in the e-mail is displayed on the screen of (step 306).

【0032】

Here, if the content of the received mail displayed does not meet the intention of the receiving user and you do not want to receive the mail from the same sender in the future (step 308 Yes), the predetermined incoming call rejection setting notification Is sent to the server device S and registered (step 310), and the received mail is deleted (step 318).

【0033】

If the displayed email has the status you want to reply to, that is, if the sender's user ID is attached to the email (step 312 Yes), the user ID attached to the email will be returned to your email. By attaching, a reply mail addressed to the user ID can be sent (step 314 Yes). In this case, the processing is transferred to the mail generation / sending routine shown in FIG.

【0034】

If the received mail is not in the desired reply status (step 312 No), or if you do not reply to the received mail (step 314 No), delete the received mail, save it, or go to another client device C as it is. Whether to transfer (return to server device S through the network) is selected. When deleting or saving (steps 316 or 320 Yes), the mail is deleted or stored in a predetermined storage area (steps 318, 322), respectively. If the received mail with the displayed contents is not deleted or saved (step 316,320 No), the mail is forwarded. At this time, if client device C is connected to Internet INET (step 324 Yes), the mail is sent to server device S (step 326), and if there are other unsent mails (step 328 Yes). , Those mails are also sent to the server device S (step 330). If client device C is not connected to Internet INET (step 324 No), the mail is stored as unsent mail in a given storage area (step 322).

【0035】

(c) Incoming mail display processing FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an incoming mail display process of the client device C. When the client device C receives data from the server device S, it determines whether the data is a mail from another client device C or a message from the system. If the data is an email (step 404 "email"), immediately display the incoming call (more on this later, but on the screen of client device C, it will be represented as a "bottle washed ashore on the beach"). Instead, it is first determined whether or not to display the incoming mail (step 406). In this display / non-display determination step, whether or not to display the incoming mail is determined with a probability of 1/3 each. If it is determined that an incoming call is displayed (step 406 Yes), a "drifted bottle" is displayed on the screen (step 408). The probabilities for each of the display and non-display events may be changed based on the operating status of the system and the like. Alternatively, each time the display / non-display determination step is executed, the probability value applied in the next determination step may be set by a predetermined calculation procedure.

【0036】

If it is determined to be hidden in step 406, a counter for setting the display / non-display determination time interval is activated (step 410). In this system, the time interval by this counter is set to 15 minutes, but this time interval may be increased or decreased as appropriate, or the setting can be changed by the user of the client device C according to his / her preference. You may design the client software in. In the mail system of this embodiment, the number of bottles that are displayed as incoming calls at one time is one, but a plurality of bottles are displayed on the screen to indicate that a plurality of mails are received. You may.

【0037】

Next, it is determined whether there is an e-mail that has been received by the client device C and the incoming call is not displayed, and if such an e-mail exists and the incoming call display (display of the drifting bottle) is not displayed on the screen (step 414). No), the steps after the determination step 406 of whether or not to display the incoming call again are executed. In this way, since it has a flow that repeatedly determines the presence or absence of an email that has already been received but has not been displayed, and determines whether to display or hide the email, the client device C is offline for the user. It can be effective as if an email arrived online in real time.

【0038】

On the other hand, if it is determined that the data received in step 404 is a message from the system (step 404 "message"), the display control information contained in that message is read (step 416). Attributes related to the display conditions of the message are written in the display control information. In the case of this system, the attributes include "display count" and "display expiration date" of the message. In order to control by the "display count", for example, a method of decrementing the preset value of the "display count" included in the display control information of the message each time the message is displayed can be considered. To control by "display expiration date", for example, the value of "display expiration date" is compared with the system clock of the client device C, and the value of the display expiration date exceeds the current time indicated by the system clock. If so, you can consider a method such as not displaying the message. If the "displayable time zone" of the message is further added as the display control information of the message, the system clock of the client device C can be compared and determined with the data written in the "displayable time zone". It is possible to control not to display the message other than the "displayable time zone".

【0039】

When the message is determined to be valid in this way (step 418 valid), the message is displayed on the screen of client device C (step 420). If the message is determined to be invalid as described above (step 418 invalid), the invalid message is deleted (step 422). In this system, this message is displayed as "a signboard built on the coast", but other display forms (monolith, ship smoke, contrails, etc.) may be adopted. Needless to say.

【0040】

(C) Function of server device S Next, the function of the server device S corresponding to the client device C described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the server device S. When the server device S receives an access from the client device C, the server device S receives the mail sent from the client device C and checks whether the received mail includes the user ID (steps 502,504). If no user ID is attached (step 504 No), the server device S determines that the mail is the first mail sent by a new user of the mail system and is unique and different from any issued user ID. Issue an ID and send it to the user's client software (steps 506,508).

【0041】

The user ID issued by the server device S functions as an identification code for the mail system to identify one user, and one user record is generated for one user ID and held in the server device S. Each user record includes a field in a predetermined format, and stores personal information such as a user ID, an e-mail address, a name registered by the user, and an address. In addition, each user record is a field that can store various statuses given to the user by the mail system (users who violate the terms of use, users who have registered a specific user to refuse to receive mail, etc.). Is provided.

【0042】

On the other hand, if the received e-mail has a user ID (step 504Yes), the sender user ID of the e-mail and the destination user ID if attached are extracted from the e-mail (step 510). First, the extracted source user ID is compared and collated to see if it matches the user ID that violates the terms of use stored in the user record held by the mail system (step 512). A user who violates the terms of use means a user who has been notified to the mail system as a user who sends a malicious solicitation or an email with poor content from another user, or a user who is refused to receive an email from another user. , Recorded in a predetermined field of each user record. If the call rejection status of the system is recorded in the ID of the calling user (step 512 Yes), a call rejection message is sent to that user and the connection with the client is disconnected (steps 514,534).

【0043】

If the sender user ID of the received mail does not correspond to the user who violates the terms of use (step 512 No), the received mail is stored in the mailbox (step 516). At this time, the number of mails received by the server device S from the same user ID is recorded in, for example, the user record of the corresponding user, and if the number of mails exceeds the predetermined number for a predetermined time, the server device S thereafter. It is possible to limit the number of outgoing mails from the same user by processing so as to reject incoming calls to. For example, if the number of e-mails that the same user can send in a day is limited to 10 or the like, it is possible to suppress annoying acts such as a large amount of promotional e-mails and so-called spam e-mails. The mailbox of this server device S exists equally for all client devices C, that is, it is a completely common mail storage area, and the mails received from each client device C are stored in chronological order in the order of their reception time. To.

【0044】

Next, the server device S searches for the mail stored in the mailbox and checks whether there is a mail containing the sender user ID of the received mail as the destination (step 518). If there is a corresponding email (step 520 Yes), extract the oldest email and send it to the client (step 522,526). In this way, it is possible to respond to a specific mail sender while basically maintaining mutual anonymity through the user ID held by the server device S as an intermediary.

【0045】

If there is no corresponding email (step 520 No), one email is randomly extracted from the mailbox (step 524) and sent to the accessing client device C (step 526). When extracting the outgoing mail from the mailbox to the client device C, one or more mails are extracted according to the total number of mails stored in the mailbox (for example, the stored mail in the mailbox is extracted. If there are 10 emails, 3 emails will be extracted, and if there are 3 stored emails, only 1 email will be extracted.) In addition, the upper limit of the number of mails that can be extracted at one time may be set in consideration of the case where a large amount of accumulated mails are stored in the mailbox.

【0046】

Next, the server device S determines whether or not messages other than mail are stored in the mailbox. If there is a message other than mail (step 528 Yes), it is determined whether the message has already been sent to the client device C, and if it is an unsent message (step 530 No), the message is being connected. To client device C (step 532). Then, these steps are repeatedly executed, and when all the messages are sent to the client device C, the connection with the client device C is disconnected (step 534).

【0047】

(D) Operation and display of client device C Up to this point, the processing inside the client device C and the server device S has been described using a flowchart. The operation flow and screen display contents of the client device C will be described below with reference to the flowchart and the figure of the display screen. That is, what is to be described below is the interface between the user and the client device C. 6 to 9 are flowcharts showing the flow of operation and screen display of the client device C. Further, FIGS. 10 to 19 show the main screens displayed on the client device C.

【0048】

When the user starts the mail system client software installed in the client device C (step 602), the title screen including the creator data and the like is displayed for a predetermined time, and then the idling screen is displayed (step 604). The idling screen is "a scene where a treasure chest is left behind on a sandy beach where waves hit (Fig. 10)". This screen indicates that the client software is waiting for the user's next action or incoming mail display. However, as already described for the internal processing flow of the client device C, this is just an idling display on the interface to the user, and does not indicate that the processing of the client software itself is stopped or suspended. Needless to say.

【0049】

In this mail system, the time when the client software is started is acquired from the system clock, and the sandy beach scene corresponding to the current time is selected and displayed. For example, if the client software is started in the daytime, the sandy beach in the daytime is displayed, if it is started in the evening, the sandy beach in the sunset is displayed, and if it is started in the nighttime, the sandy beach in the starry sky is displayed as an idling screen. In this case, the idling screen corresponding to the time at startup may be displayed, and the subsequent time lapse may be sequentially acquired from the system clock to control the idling screen display to change according to the progress of real time. ..

【0050】

(a) View saved emails To view the emails stored in the album (Fig. 6 Step 606 Yes), click the treasure chest on the screen (Step 608) and you will see "Image of the album and sketchbook popping out of the treasure chest (Fig. 11)". Be done (step 610). If you click on the album (step 612), the "List of saved emails (Fig. 12)" will be displayed with the album page open (step 614). In this system, in this list display, four emails saved in the album spread are displayed at one time.

【0051】

If you don't want to see any more emails stored in the album (Figure 7 Step 702 No), click on the opened treasure chest (Step 714) and you'll see "Image of the album in the treasure chest" (Step 716). , Return to the idling screen.

【0052】

If you want to view the emails saved in the album (step 702Yes), double-click the email you want to see in the list (step 704), and "Enlarged selection email" will be displayed (step). 706). If you want to see other emails (step 708 Yes), click on the enlarged email or opened album (step 710) to return to the "List of Saved Emails" (step 712).

【0053】

(b) Create a new email When composing a new email (Fig. 6 Step 606 No, Step 616 Yes), click the treasure chest on the screen (Step 618) and you will see "Image of album and sketchbook popping out of treasure chest". (Step 620), so if you click on the sketchbook (step 622), << Sketchbook Page >> will be displayed in the open state (step 624). Since this sketchbook also serves as a transmission record book, a copy of the sent mail is saved. Therefore, when you open the sketchbook, you may see the sent mail, in which case you can call a new blank page by throwing the page in the trash. Alternatively, you may turn over the pages of the sketchbook (click on the right or bottom left corner of each page) to bring up a blank page.

【0054】

If you want to draw a new picture to compose a new email (Fig. 8 step 802Yes), bring up a blank page as above (step 804), << Drawing screen (blank page of sketchbook) and drawing tool (Sketchbook blank page) Display Fig. 13)>> and write your favorite picture or character (steps 806,808). Drawing tools include a keyboard (keytop icon), crayons, paint, stamps, eraser, and scissors, each of which is displayed as an icon, and you can select the tool by clicking on those icons. it can. In addition, the color applied to each tool can be selected by operating the icon on the ball representing each color.

【0055】

The keyboard is used to input characters from the keyboard of client device C. Crayons and paints are paint tools that allow you to draw free curves directly or paint with the desired color. The stamp is a tool for pasting a standard character string preset by the user on the screen. In this embodiment, the URL set in advance by the user can be pasted in the hyperlink format. In addition, the eraser enables erasing of the drawn data, and the scissors allow the movement by designating the range of the drawn data.

【0056】

The data drawn by the keyboard, crayon, etc. is converted into PNG format image data as described above. Therefore, the character string input by the keyboard looks like text data at first glance, but is the same image data as other line art painted by a crayon or the like. The drawing tool may include a pencil, a pen, a brush, an airbrush, etc., which are also used in general paint software.

【0057】

If you want to send the email created in this way (step 810 Yes), click the empty bottle displayed on the screen (step 812) to "image the email in the bottle" and "insert the email". A scene in which the bottle is flowing offshore (Fig. 14) >> is displayed (steps 814,816) to inform the user that the email has been sent. Also, if you want to send it as an email with the status you want to reply to, you can click on the empty bottle with the tag (tag).

【0058】

As described above, when the client device C is offline, the mail is stored in a predetermined storage area without being sent and waits for the next transmission timing. There is no need to tell the difference between sent and unsent, so if an email is sent over the network or added to a queue waiting to be sent, in either case << the bottle containing the email goes offshore. "Flowing scene" is displayed.

【0059】

If you want to save the newly drawn picture as it is in the sketchbook without sending it as an email (step 818 Yes), click the opened treasure chest (step 820) to get "Image of sketchbook entering treasure chest". Displayed (step 822), the picture is saved in the sketchbook.

【0060】

Also, if you do not want to send or save the newly drawn picture (step 818 No), you can click the trash can (step 824) to Image of the sketchbook page with the picture being rolled into the trash can. >> Is displayed (step 826) and the page is deleted.

【0061】

Then, if you want to see a picture already saved in the sketchbook without drawing a new one (step 828 Yes), move the page by clicking the right or bottom left corner of each page in the sketchbook (step 828 Yes). Step 830) Repeat this until the desired page appears.

【0062】

Also, if you do not draw a new picture and do not see the picture saved in the sketchbook (step 828 No), click the opened treasure chest (step 834), << Image of sketchbook entering treasure chest >> Is displayed (step 836) and the screen returns to the idling screen.

【0063】

(c) View the contents of the incoming mail Next, if you do not see the saved mail and do not compose a new mail (Fig. 6 Step 606 No, Step 616 No), if there is a new mail and the incoming call is displayed (Step 626 Yes), << Enter mail The scene where the bottle is launched on the sandy beach (Fig. 15) >> is displayed. If you want to see the contents of the email (step 628 Yes), click "Launched bottle" on the screen (step). 630). Then, "Image of mail coming out of the bottle" is displayed (step 632), and then "Content of mail (Fig. 16)" is displayed (step 634). At this time, "Album for saving emails", "Empty bottle for forwarding emails to other clients", and "Trash for deleting emails" are displayed on the same screen as operation items. Will be done. In addition, if the received e-mail has the status of the desired reply, the "icon for replying to the e-mail (tag icon)" is also displayed.

【0064】

At this time, the transmission route attached to the header of the received mail, the sending time, the location of the source server (top-level domain of the source mail address), the platform of the client device C that receives the mail (Windows, MacOS, UNIX, etc.) The "how to display mail" may be changed based on the data such as the OS) type. As an example, since an email is displayed in the form of a "letter written on paper", the state of "paper is out of date" corresponding to the elapsed time from the sending time of the email (the more time elapses from the sending time). , The display is such that yellowing, stains, worm-eaten, etc. of the paper increase.) It is conceivable that the "oldness" of the mail can be intuitively conveyed to the user by showing the user. As another example, if the outgoing time is February and the source server is located in Russia, the "frozen letter" can be displayed. That is, it is possible to display the attributes of the received mail so that it can be intuitively grasped based on the header information and the like possessed by the received mail.

【0065】

Figure 9 shows the operation and display flow of how to process an email that has been viewed. First, if the content of the e-mail is not what the recipient intended, for example, a vulgar image or a content that includes a malicious solicitation, the receiving user is from the user who sent such an e-mail. You wouldn't want to receive an email. In such a case (step 902 Yes), by performing a predetermined operation (eg, holding down the control key on the keyboard and clicking the trash can on the screen), << The received mail displayed on the screen is rounded. Image of being incinerated after entering the trash can (Fig. 17) >> is displayed.

【0066】

Next, when replying to the received mail (step 908 Yes), click the reply icon (tag icon) (step 910) to display the << Reply drawing screen (Fig. 18) >>. Is done (step 912). As shown in the figure, on the reply drawing screen, the image included in the received mail is reduced by a predetermined magnification and pasted on a part of the screen. Therefore, the receiving user who receives the reply mail can understand at a glance which mail the reply is sent to.

【0067】

If you want to save the email as it is (step 914 Yes), click the "Album" item (step 916) and you will see "Image of email pasted in album" (step 918). Immediately after that, "Image of album entering treasure chest" is displayed (step 920), and the screen returns to the idling screen described above.

【0068】

Next, if you want to forward the viewed mail to another client as it is without saving it (step 922 Yes), click the empty bottle on the screen (step 924) and you will see "Image of mail in bottle". It is displayed (step 926), and then "Scene where a bottle containing mail flows offshore" is displayed (step 928). At this time, an icon (in this system, it is a "swinging spherical mascot") that accepts the cancellation of the mail forwarding operation is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time (30 seconds in this system) (step 930). ). If you want to cancel the forwarding operation, click this icon to return to the mail content display screen.

【0069】

Also, if you want to delete an email that has been viewed without saving or forwarding it (step 922 No), click the trash can on the screen (step 932) to display "Image of the email being rolled into the trash can". Is done (step 934). At this time, as in the case of the above transfer operation, an icon for accepting the cancellation of the mail deletion operation is displayed on the screen for a predetermined time (30 seconds in this system) (step 930), and by clicking this icon, Return to the mail content display screen.

【0070】

[Effect of the invention]

As described above in detail by one embodiment of the present invention, the e-mail system according to the present invention has the following effects.

【0071】

(1) Text data and / or graphic data input by the user are converted into image data in a predetermined data format regardless of the computer platform or language used by the e-mail client device. The recipient of the mail can receive the information as created by the sender without being bothered by garbled characters.

【0072】

(2) The e-mail client device includes the converted image data and can basically send an anonymous message, but the user voluntarily describes his / her e-mail address or wishes to reply. You can send a reply with the desired status with the information to the effect.

【0073】

(3) The e-mail client device receives and stores the e-mail file transferred from the mailbox of the e-mail server device, and displays the received e-mail file according to a predetermined condition. At that time, if the received mail has the desired reply status, it is possible to reply to the sender of the mail.

【0074】

(4) For users who use malicious solicitation mail in a form that is annoying to general e-mail system users, it is possible to make settings such as refusal of receipt from the user and refusal of incoming calls to the server device. It is possible to suppress the use that is annoying to the user.

[Simple explanation of drawings]

[Figure 1]

It is the schematic which shows the structure of the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Figure 2]

It is a flowchart which shows the mail generation and transmission routine of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 3]

It is a flowchart which shows the subsequent processing about the mail received by the client apparatus C in the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 4]

It is a flowchart which shows the mail incoming call display processing of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 5]

It is a flowchart which shows the operation flow of the server apparatus S which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 6]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation and screen display of the client device C constituting the mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 7]

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation and screen display of the client device C constituting the mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 8]

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation and screen display of the client device C constituting the mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 9]

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation and screen display of the client device C constituting the mail system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 10]

It is a figure which shows the idling screen << scene where the treasure box is left behind on the sandy beach where the wave hits >> which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 11]

It is a figure which shows the << image of an album and a sketchbook popping out from a treasure box >> display screen of the client device C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 12]

It is a figure which shows the << list of stored mails >> display screen of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 13]

It is a figure which shows the << drawing screen (blank page of a sketchbook) and drawing tool >> display screen of the client device C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 14]

It is a figure which shows the << scene | scene where the bottle containing mail flows offshore >> display screen of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 15]

It is a figure which shows the << scene where the bottle containing mail is launched on the sandy beach >> display screen of the client device C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 16]

It is a figure which shows the << mail content >> display screen of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 17]

It is a figure which shows the << image that the received mail displayed on the screen is rolled into a trash can and is incinerated >> display screen of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Fig. 18]

It is a figure which shows the << screen for drawing reply >> display screen of the client apparatus C which constitutes the mail system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

S E-mail server device C email client device 10,20 HTTP server 30 mailbox INET internet