Apparatus and method for forwarding e-mail
An e-mail management apparatus is provided, which enables a customer to select an active e-mail account freely and to read e-mails stored in the mailbox corresponding to the inactive e-mail account. E-mail management apparatus receives an e-mail transmitted from a node in the Internet, stores the received e-mail in a storage location corresponding to a terminal identifier, the terminal identifier corresponding to an e-mail account, and the e-mail account corresponding to the destination e-mail address of the e-mail forwards the received e-mail to the communication terminal designated by the terminal identifier corresponding to the e-mail account, when the e-mail account corresponding to the destination e-mail address of the e-mail is active. E-mail management apparatus transfers e-mails stored in the storage location to the communication terminal designated by a terminal identifier, in response to a request of a transmission of the e-mails stored in the storage location corresponding to the terminal identifier.
1. An e-mail management apparatus, comprising:
a first storage unit configured to store a record for each of a plurality of e-mail accounts provided to a communication terminal, wherein the communication terminal is configured to be carried by a customer, wherein each record includes an e-mail account flag for a respective e-mail account of the e-mail accounts, wherein each e-mail account flag indicates a status of the respective e-mail account as active or inactive and a terminal identifier of the communication terminal;
a processor in communication with the first storage unit, the processor configured to change the status of any one of the plurality of e-mail accounts in response to a change status request from the communication terminal;
a communication interface in communication with the processor, the communication interface configured to receive e-mails;
a second storage unit in communication with the processor, the second storage unit comprising an electronic mailbox that corresponds to the terminal identifier, the electronic mailbox configured to store received e-mails as a function of the received e-mails being addressed to at least one of the e-mail accounts;
wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit to the communication terminal, without receipt of a request from the communication terminal for transmission of the received emails, a first e-mail of the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox based upon the first e-mail being addressed to a first e-mail account of the email accounts, wherein the status of the first e-mail account is represented as active by the e-mail account flag included in the record that corresponds to the first e-mail account; and
wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit to the communication terminal, in response to receipt of the request for transmission of the received e-mails, a second e-mail of the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox and addressed to a second e-mail account of the e-mail accounts, wherein the status of the second e-mail account is represented as inactive by the e-mail account flag included in the record that corresponds to the second e-mail account.
2. The e-mail management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate a set of text data from an e-mail of the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox, wherein the set of text data is evaluated by a browsing function; and
wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit the set of text data to the communication terminal.
3. The e-mail management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit a list of titles of the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox to the communication terminal; and wherein the communication interface is further configured by the processor to forward e-mails selected by the customer from among the list of titles of the received e-mails in response to the transmission of the list of titles from the communication terminal.
4. The e-mail management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to authenticate a request to forward the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox; and
wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox to the communication terminal in response to authentication of the terminal by the processor.
5. The e-mail management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication terminal is configured as a mobile phone; and
the first storage unit is further configured to store a telephone number assigned to the mobile phone, wherein the telephone number is used as the terminal identifier.
6. An e-mail forwarding method, comprising:
storing a record for each of a plurality of e-mail accounts provided to a communication terminal configured to be carried by a customer, wherein each record includes an e-mail account flag that corresponds to a status of a respective e-mail account of the plurality of email accounts as active or inactive and a terminal identifier of the communication terminal;
changing the status of at least one of the e-mail accounts in response to a request from the communication terminal;
receiving e-mails;
storing the received e-mails in an electronic mailbox that corresponds to the terminal identifier when the received e-mails are addressed to at least one of the e-mail accounts;
transmitting to the communication terminal, without receipt of a request for transmission of emails from the communication terminal, a first e-mail of the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox when the first e-mail is addressed to a first e-mail account of the plurality of email accounts, wherein the first e-mail account has the status of which is represented as active by the e-mail account flag included in the record that corresponds to the first e-mail account; and
transmitting to the communication terminal, in response to receipt of the request for transmission of e-mails from the communication terminal, a second e-mail of the received e-mails stored in the electronic mailbox and addressed to a second e-mail account of the plurality of e-mail accounts, wherein the second e-mail account has the status of which is represented as inactive by the e-mail account flag included in the record that corresponds to the second e-mail account.