Patent Publication Number: US-2003229671-A1

Title: E-mail communication system

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention relates to an e-mail communication system that executes e-mail communication, in particular, in which a situation that e-mails are transmitted to recipients regardless of the intention of the recipients can be prevented.  
       DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART  
       [0002] Recently, e-mails have been frequently transmitted and received by using information processing equipment such as personal computers (PCs) and mobile communication terminals. However, an e-mail can be easily transmitted to e-mail addresses when a sender knows the e-mail addresses. Further, the sender can transmit the e-mail to a large number of the e-mail addresses with a small amount of communication expenses. By the situation mentioned above, a large number of e-mails have been transmitted to recipients without the intention of the recipients. With this, a large load has been imposed on the e-mail transmitting sever, and also an undesirable communication charge has been imposed on the recipients.  
       [0003] In order to solve this problem, several measures, which prevent these unwelcome e-mails, have been proposed. Hereinafter, the unwelcome e-mails are referred to as bothering e-mails. For example, in a proposal, e-mails whose destinations are unidentified are detected, and legal measures are taken to senders that transmitted the e-mails having unidentified destinations. Or, in another proposal, preventing the transmission of the bothering e-mails is requested to an Internet service provider who has a contract with the sender that transmits the bothering e-mails.  
       [0004] However, at the proposal that takes the legal measures, when the sender changed its name or its address, the legal measures are not effective, and the legal measures must be taken repeatedly. Further, at the proposal that the Internet service provider is requested to prevent to transmit the bothering e-mails, the Internet service provider must investigate the sender transmitting the bothering e-mails, and it takes time to make the sender stop transmitting the bothering e-mails.  
       [0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 4-207735 discloses an e-mail management apparatus. In this patent application, in case that a user does not want to receive e-mails from a designated sender, the user registers the address of the designated sender. And when an e-mail whose address is equal to the address of the registered sender is transmitted to the user, the e-mail is not stored.  
       [0006] At this patent application, it is effective for only the user who registered the address of the sender from whom the user does not want to receive e-mails again, and it is not effective for the other users who have not registered the address of the sender. Further, in case that there are many other senders that transmit bothering e-mails, the user must always register the addresses of the other senders that transmit bothering e-mails.  
       [0007] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-84192 discloses an e-mail receiving apparatus, an e-mail receiving method and a recording medium for storing the method. In this patent application, the kind of language of an e-mail that was transmitted to a recipient is recognized, and when the language was recognized as the recipient own country&#39;s language, the e-mail is stored in an e-mail storing section. And the other e-mails are judged as bothering e-mails and are blocked to receive. With this, the e-mails written by the other languages are stopped receiving immediately. However, e-mails using the other languages from his/her friends or clients are completely blocked to receive, therefore, there is a problem that necessary e-mails using the other languages are not received. Further, almost all the bothering e-mails are written by the recipient own country&#39;s language, therefore this method does not have advantage for preventing the reception of the bothering e-mails.  
       [0008] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-73492 discloses an e-mail server, an e-mail service method, and an information recorded medium of the method. In this patent application, the e-mail server receives an e-mail; and the e-mail server judges whether the destination address of the e-mail is the address of a user&#39;s open address, which is managed by the e-mail server, or not. And the destination of the e-mail was the address of the user&#39;s open address, the e-mail server inquires the user about the permission of transmitting the e-mail to the user. When the permission was not given, the e-mail server informs the sender of the e-mail about that the user does not exist. When the permission was given, the e-mail is transmitted to the user having the open address.  
       [0009] However, at this patent application, the user can receive e-mails from only the senders whom the user gave the permission of transmitting e-mails. Consequently, e-mails from the senders whom the permission was not given can not be received. For example, in case that inquiries for the web site of the user are transmitted to the user, or in case that the e-mail address of the user is used for the inquiries of customers in business, the e-mails from these inquires are not received by the user. Further, the addresses of the senders, who are permitted to transmit e-mails to the user, must be registered beforehand, therefore, the processes become complicated.  
       [0010] In order to prevent the bothering e-mails, another technology is proposed. In this technology, at a multi-address calling, which transmits an e-mail to plural e-mail addresses simultaneously, when there are many unidentified e-mail addresses in the plural e-mail addresses, this message is judged as a bothering e-mail. And servers that receive this e-mail block the transmission of this e-mail.  
       [0011] In this technology, when a sender made lots of e-mail addresses by generating random English letters and figures and there are many e-mail addresses being equal to actual e-mail addresses in the made e-mail addresses, in case that the sender transmits an e-mail to the made e-mail addresses, the e-mail can be blocked, because there are a lot of unidentified e-mail addresses.  
       [0012] However, in case that the unidentified e-mail addresses are not many, the e-mail is transmitted to the actual e-mail addresses without the approval of the users of the actual e-mail addresses.  
       [0013] Some e-mails, which are transmitted without the approval of recipients, are useful for the recipients. For example, a notice from a government office or information from alumni is useful for the recipients, even when the approval of the recipients is not given. Therefore, as mentioned above, in case that the user limits the senders of the e-mails, there is a problem that the recipient cannot receive a message from senders such as the government office or the alumni.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail communication system, in which bothering e-mails can be prevented to transmit to recipients.  
       [0015] According to a first aspect of the present invention, for achieving the object mentioned above, there is provided an e-mail communication system. The e-mail communication system provides an e-mail transmitting means that transmits e-mails of each of subscribers to respective destinations, an e-mail transmission refusal notice receiving means that receives a transmission refusal notice signifying that a specific e-mail is not desired to receive at each of the destinations and also showing the sender of the specific mail by an-e-mail, a judging means that judges whether the number of the transmission refusal notices received at the e-mail transmission refusal notice receiving means for each of the senders in a designated period exceeds a predetermined threshold value or not, and an e-mail transmission refusing means that refuses the transmission of e-mails from the sender from now on when the judging means judged that the number of the refusal notices for the sender exceeded the predetermined threshold value.  
       [0016] According to a second aspect of the present invention, for achieving the object mentioned above, there is provided an e-mail communication system. The e-mail communication system provides an e-mail transmitting means that transmits e-mails of each of subscribers to respective destinations, an e-mail transmission refusal notice receiving means that receives a transmission refusal notice signifying that a specific e-mail is not desired to receive at each of the destinations and also showing the sender of the specific mail by an-e-mail, a judging means that judges whether the ratio of the number of the transmission refusal notices received at the e-mail transmission refusal notice receiving means for the specific e-mail from each of the senders to the total transmitted number of the specific e-mail exceeds a predetermined threshold value or not, and an e-mail transmission refusing means that refuses the transmission of e-mails from the sender from now on when the judging means judged that the ratio exceeded the predetermined threshold value.  
       [0017] According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the e-mail communication system further provides an e-mail transmission refusal notice informing means that informs the sender who transmitted the specific e-mail being not desirable to receive about the transmission refusal notices received at the e-mail transmission refusal notice receiving means.  
       [0018] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the e-mail communication system further provides an e-mail transmission refusal notice informing means that informs the sender who transmitted the specific e-mail being not desirable to receive about the transmission refusal notices received at the e-mail transmission refusal notice receiving means.  
       [0019] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the e-mail communication system further provides a transmission refused sender memorizing means that memorizes each of the senders who were refused to transmit the e-mails from now on by the e-mail transmission refusing means, and a threshold value changing means that makes the predetermined threshold value low when the memorized number of the sender in the transmission refused sender memorizing means increased.  
       [0020] According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the e-mail communication system further provides a transmission refused sender memorizing means that memorizes each of the senders who were refused to transmit the e-mails from now on by the e-mail transmission refusing means, and a threshold value changing means that makes the predetermined threshold value low when the memorized number of the sender in the transmission refused sender memorizing means increased.  
       [0021] According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, for achieving the object mentioned above, there is provided an e-mail communication system. The e-mail communication system provides a transmission refusal e-mail storing means that stores specific e-mails being not desirable to receive at each of destinations in each of senders when the specific e-mails being not desirable to receive were received at each of the destinations, provided in a network, and an e-mail transmission stopping request transmitting means that investigates the number of the specific e-mails in each of the senders storing in the transmission refusal e-mail storing means and makes an Internet service provider connected to each of the senders stop transmitting e-mails from each of the senders from now on when the number of the specific e-mails exceeded a predetermined value in a designated period via the network.  
       [0022] According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the seventh aspect, the e-mail communication system further provides a transmission refusal e-mail transmitting back means that transmits back the specific e-mails being not desirable to receive to each of the senders storing in the transmission refusal e-mail storing means. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0023] The objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:  
     [0024]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of an e-mail communication system at a first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0025]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing processes at the time when a bothering e-mail was transmitted at the structure of the e-mail communication system shown in FIG. 1;  
     [0026]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a part of data storing in a data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails shown in FIG. 1;  
     [0027]FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a structure of an e-mail communication system at a second embodiment of the present invention; and  
     [0028]FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a server for watching refusal e-mails shown in FIG. 4. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0029] Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail.  
     [0030]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of an e-mail communication system at a first embodiment of the present invention. By using this e-mail communication system, bothering e-mails can be prevented to transmit within subscribers connected to one Internet service provider. As shown in FIG. 1, an e-mail communication system  10  of the first embodiment of the present invention provides an e-mail server  11 , subscribers  12   i  to  12   N , and a data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13 . The e-mail server  11  is provided by an Internet service provider. The subscribers  12   1  to  12   N  communicate with one another by using e-mails via the e-mail server  11 . The data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  stores. e-mail addresses of senders who transmitted e-mails that recipients did not want to receive. The subscribers  12   1  to  12   N  are e-mail clients such as PCs, work stations, and mobile communication terminals.  
     [0031]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing processes at the time when a bothering e-mail was transmitted at the structure of the e-mail communication system shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the processes at the time when a bothering e-mail is transmitted are explained. In the explanation of the processes, each of the step numbers is shown in FIG. 2.  
     [0032] First, the first half of the processes is explained. In this example, it is assumed that the Nth subscriber  12   N  transmitted an e-mail to arbitrary many subscribers by the multi-address calling (step S 21 ). By this transmission, in FIG. 2, the first subscriber  12   1  and the second subscriber  12   2  receive this e-mail via the e-mail server  11  (step S 22 ).  
     [0033] In this, at this e-mail communication system  10 , the Internet service provider, which manages the e-mail server  11 , has informed the subscribers  12   1  to  12   N  about a process preventing bothering e-mails. The process preventing bothering e-mails is the following process. In case that a recipient received an e-mail that was not welcome from a sender, when the recipient wants to refuse to receive any e-mails from the sender after this time, the recipient transmits a refusal notice, which informs the refusal of receiving e-mails form the sender, by an e-mail to the e-mail server  11  by clearly showing the sender.  
     [0034] Therefore, when the e-mail that was transmitted by the Nth subscriber  12   N  at the step S 21  was a bothering e-mail, many subscribers such as the first and second subscribers  12   1  and  12   2  transmit the refusal notices to the e-mail server  11  by using e-mails (step S 23 ). The e-mail server  11  registers the refusal notices in the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  in each of senders (step S 24 ).  
     [0035] In this, instead of using the e-mails, when the subscribers received e-mails that were not welcome, the subscribers can inform the Internet service provider, which manages the e-mail server  11 , about the refusal notices by using a telephone call or a document. In this case, the Internet service provider registers the refusal notices in the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13 .  
     [0036]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a part of data storing in the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the addresses of subscribers, the number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period for each of the addresses of subscribers, and a threshold value for each of the number of refusal notices for e-mails are stored in the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13 . The addresses of subscribers are the addresses of senders to whose e-mails the refusal notices were given from some subscribers. The number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period is the number of refusal notices per the newest unit period for each of the addresses of senders. The threshold value for each of the number of refusal notices for e-mails is a minimum value to judge whether an e-mail is a bothering e-mail or not. That is, in case that the number of refusal notices exceeded the threshold value, the e-mail is judged as a bothering e-mail.  
     [0037] For example, in FIG. 3, when the subscriber address “N” of the Nth subscriber  12   N  is focused on, the number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period is n 3 , and the threshold value is t 3 . In this, the number of refusal notices for e-mails is counted per the newest unit period, this comes from the following reason. That is, when the number of refusal notices for e-mails is simply accumulated for a long period, the number of refusal notices for e-mails from many of the subscribers  12   1  to  12   N  is increased after the long period, and the transmission of bothering e-mails cannot be prevented quickly. The unit period can be arbitrarily decided as, for example, one hour. As the threshold value, the same value can be used for all the subscribers  12   1  to  12   N , but the Internet service provider can decide the threshold value for each of the subscribers  12   1  to  12   N  arbitrarily corresponding to the situation. Or in case that a subscriber was judged as a sender of bothering e-mails in the past, the threshold value for the address of the subscriber (sender) can be set to be a low value. With this, the bothering e-mails can be stopped quickly.  
     [0038] The number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period can be counted by various methods. For example, when the e-mail server  11  received a refusal notice from a subscriber, the e-mail server  11  adds the time information when the refusal notice was given to the address of the subscriber (sender) that transmitted the e- mail given the refusal notice. And the added results are transmitted to the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13 . In case that the unit period is decided as one hour, the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  extracts the number of refusal notices for one hour from the present to the past by using the time information, and counts the number of refusal notices and stores it.  
     [0039] Next, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the second half of the processes is explained. For example, the following case is assumed. That is, after the Nth subscriber  12   N  transmitted a large quantity of an e-mail, the refusal notice for the e-mail transmitted from the Nth subscriber  12   N  is transmitted to the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  via the e-mail server  11 , and the number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period n 3  exceeded the threshold value t 3 . At this time, the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  transmits a stop signal, which makes the Nth subscriber  12   N  stop transmitting an e-mail from now on, to the e-mail server  11  (step S 25 ). When the e-mail server  11  received the stop signal, the e-mail server  11  forbids the Nth subscriber  12   N  to transmit e-mails from now on (step S 26 ). And also the e-mail server  11  transmits an e-mail, informing that the Nth subscriber  12   N  cannot transmit e-mails from now on because the Nth subscriber  12   N  can be a source of bothering e-mails, to the Nth subscriber  12   N  (step S 27 ). The process at the step S 27  has the following purposes. The first purpose is to make the Nth subscriber  12   N  not transmit bothering e-mails from now on by informing the Nth subscriber  12   N  about the reason why the Nth subscriber  12   N  cannot transmit e-mails from now on. The second purpose is to give the Nth subscriber  12   N  an opportunity that the Nth subscriber  12   N  can transmit e-mails again by assuming a case that the Nth subscriber  12   N  transmitted the e-mail to an indefinite number of addresses by mistake.  
     [0040] When the Nth subscriber  12   N  wants to restart transmitting e-mails, the Nth subscriber  12   N  transmits an e-mail for requesting restart of the transmission of e-mails to the e-mail server  11 . When the e-mail server  11  judged the restart of the transmission of the e-mails from the Nth subscriber  12   N , the e-mail server  11  makes the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  let the number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period “0”.  
     [0041] Next, referring to the drawings, a second embodiment of the present invention is explained. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a structure of an e-mail communication system at the second embodiment of the present invention. At the first embodiment of the present invention, generating bothering e-mails among subscribers of the same Internet service provider is prevented. However, at the second embodiment of the present invention, generating bothering e-mails among subscribers of plural Internet service providers is prevented.  
     [0042] As shown in FIG. 4, an e-mail communication system  30  at the second embodiment provides a communication network  31 , a server for watching refusal e-mails  32 , a first e-mail server  33   1  to an Mth e-mail server  33   M , a first subscriber  34   A1  to an Ath subscriber  34   AA  connected to the first e-mail server  33   1 , a first subscriber  34   X1  to an Xth subscriber  34   XX  connected to the Mth e-mail server  33   M , and a data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35   1 . In FIG. 4, only the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35   1  is shown, however, in the first e-mail server  33   1  to the Mth e-mail server  33   M , any of e-mail servers can provide the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35 .  
     [0043] The communication network  31  is a network such as the Internet. The server for watching refusal e-mails  32  is connected to the communication network  31 , and watches the existence of e-mails not desiring to receive in the communication network  31 , and prevents the generation of the e-mails not desiring to receive in designated cases. The servers of the first e-mail server  33   1  to the Mth e-mail server  33   M  are also connected to the communication network  31 . And each of the servers of the first e-mail server  33   1  to the Mth e-mail server  33   M  is provided by a corresponding Internet service provider.  
     [0044] As mentioned above, a part of the servers of the first e-mail server  33   1  to the Mth e-mail server  33   M  provides the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35 . The function of the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35  is equal to that of the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  13  at the first embodiment. For example, in FIG. 4, the following case is assumed, that is, the first e-mail server  33   1  provides the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35   1 , and the Mth e-mail server  33   M  does not provide the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35 . In this case, at the first e-mail server  33   1 , which provides the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35   1 , as the same as at the first embodiment, e-mails not desiring to receive can be prevented among the subscribers  34   A1  to  34   AA , by the control of the first e-mail server  33   1 .  
     [0045] At the e-mail communication system  30  of the second embodiment of the present invention, by applying the same control at the first embodiment, in case that many e-mails not desiring to receive exist in the e-mails transmitted from other e-mail server, these e-mails not desiring to receive are informed to the other e-mail server. With this, bothering e-mails can be prevented to receive at the subscribers. At the second embodiment of the present invention, by making the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  work, the generation of the bothering e-mails can be prevented largely. That is, even a case that an e-mail server does not have a function to prevent the generation of the bothering e-mails, or a case that e-mails are transmitted among plural e-mail servers provided by Internet service providers, by making the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  work, the generation of the bothering e-mails can be prevented largely.  
     [0046] For example, a case is assumed. That is, the first subscriber  34   X1  connected to the Mth e-mail server  33   M , which does not provide the data server for addresses transmitted refusal e-mails  35 , transmitted a large quantity of an e-mail to the subscribers connected to the first e-mail server  33   1 . In this case, when the control at the first embodiment is applied, the e-mails, which were transmitted from the e-mail server  33   M , are not watched by the e-mail server  33   1 . That is, transmitting such e-mail cannot be controlled, when the control at the first embodiment is applied.  
     [0047] However, at the second embodiment of the present invention, in the case mentioned above, the Mth e-mail server  33   M  can be controlled. In order to achieve this control, at the second embodiment of the present invention, when a subscriber (recipient) received an undesirable e-mail, the recipient forwards the e-mail to the server for watching refusal e-mails  32 . For example, the first subscriber  34   A1  connected to the first e-mail server  33   1  or a first subscriber  34   B1  (not shown) connected to the second e-mail server  33   2  (not shown) forwards the received e-mail to the server for watching refusal e-mails  32 .  
     [0048]FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  shown in FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 4, the operation of the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  is explained. The server for watching refusal e-mails  32  provides a central processing unit (CPU) (not shown) and a control program written in a recording medium (not shown), and controls the operation by using the control program under the instruction of the CPU.  
     [0049] In the explanation of the operation of the server for watching refusal e-mails  32 , a case, in which the first subscriber  34   X1  connected to the Mth e-mail server  33   M  transmits an e-mail to the first subscriber  34   A1  connected to the first e-mail server  33   1 , is assumed.  
     [0050] First, the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  receives an e-mail, which is an e-mail being not desiring to a subscriber (recipient) and was forwarded from the subscriber (step S 41 ). That is, this e-mail is a refusal e-mail at the subscriber, and receiving the refusal e-mail signifies receiving refusal notice for the e-mail. When the refusal e-mail was received (YES at the step S 41 ), the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  extracts the address of a subscriber (sender) in the e-mail before forwarded (step S 42 ). In this example, the address of the first subscriber  34   X1  connected to the Mth e-mail server  33   M  was extracted. The server for watching refusal e-mails  32  judges whether this extracted address is new or not (step S 43 ). When the extracted address is new (YES at the step S 43 ), the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  makes a region where information about this extracted address is recorded, and the arrived time of the e-mail to the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  is set, and the information including the arrived time is stored (step S 44 ). The information in the region is the same shown in FIG. 3 at the first embodiment of the present invention. That is, when 1 e-mail arrived,  1  is counted as the number of refusal notices for the e-mails.  
     [0051] When the extracted address is an address that has been already stored in the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  (NO at the step S 43 ), the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  stores the information of the extracted address with the arrived time of the e-mail in the already set region (step S 45 ). And as mentioned at the first embodiment of the present invention, the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  accumulates the number of arrived e-mails (refusal notices for the e-mail) per the newest unit period counting from the present to the past. And the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  judges whether the accumulated number exceeds a predetermined threshold value or not (step S 46 ). When the accumulated number has not exceeded the threshold value (NO at the step S 46 ), it cannot be judged that the e-mail is a bothering e-mail, therefore, the operation returns to the start.  
     [0052] When the accumulated number exceeded the threshold value (YES at the step S 46 ), the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  identifies an Internet service provider to which the subscriber (sender) of the e-mail has subscribed, from the address (character and/or figure and/or sign string) of the sender. And the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  requests the Internet service provider to make the subscriber (sender) stop transmitting e-mails. In this example, an Internet service provider, to which the first subscriber  34   X1  has subscribed, is identified, and the identified Internet service provider is requested to inform the first subscriber  34   X1  so that the first subscriber  34   X1  stops transmitting e-mails. In this, this Internet service provider is an Internet service provider that manages the Mth e-mail server  33   M . In this case, there is a possibility that the e-mail from the first subscriber  34   X1  is a bothering e-mail. Therefore, the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  requests the Internet service provider managing the Mth e-mail server  33   M  to make the first subscriber (sender)  34   X1  stop transmitting e-mails from now on (step S 47 ). At this time, the number of recipients who forwarded the e-mail to the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  as that the e-mail was a not welcomed e-mail, or details of the recipients such as the names of the Internet service providers of the recipients can be attached to the request.  
     [0053] When an Internet service provider received a request not to transmit e-mails from a subscriber, the Internet service provider does not always take an action for making the corresponding subscriber stop transmitting e-mails immediately. However, by the reception of the request and the attached information, it can be expected that the Internet service provider takes a suitable action for the corresponding subscriber by the responsibility for the public as the Internet service provider. When the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  has achieved its purpose, its influence becomes large.  
     [0054] The server for watching refusal e-mails  32  also informs the subscriber (sender) of the refusal e-mail about that the request not to transmit e-mails was informed to the Internet service provider of the sender (step S 48 ). At this time, the information such as the number of recipients can be attached to the sender. In this example, the information was transmitted to the first subscriber  34   X1 . As the same as at the first embodiment of the present invention, the operation at the step S 48  has the following purposes. The first purpose is to make the subscriber  34   X1  recognize the facts and not transmit bothering e-mails from now on. The second purpose is to make the subscriber  34   X1  remove the cause when the facts happened by mistake.  
     [0055] At the second embodiment of the present invention as the same as at the first embodiment of the present invention, when the first subscriber  34   X1 , who had transmitted a bothering e-mail in the past, transmitted another bothering e-mail again, the threshold value in the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  can be lowered. Further, there is a case that the instruction from the Internet service provider to the subscribers is not good. In this case, when plural subscribers (senders) connected to the Internet service provider are requested not to transmit e-mails by the server for watching refusal e-mails  32 , the threshold value for each of the plural subscribers in the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  can be lowered. Or instead of changing the threshold value, changing the unit period for accumulating the number of refusal notices has the same effect.  
     [0056] Further, in some cases, it is effective that the e-mails forwarded to the server for watching refusal e-mails  32  are transmitted back to an original sender (subscriber) who transmitted a bothering e-mail. By this transmission back, the sender who transmitted the bothering e-mail receives a large quantity of the e-mails form the subscribers who refused to receive the bothering e-mail.  
     [0057] At the first and second embodiments of the present invention, the number of refusal notices for e-mails per the newest unit period is counted, and the counted number of refusal notices is compared with a threshold value. With this comparison, it is judged whether a bothering e-mail exists or not. However, the judging method is not limited to the method mentioned above. For example, when the total number of destinations, to which an e-mail was transmitted, is known, since the number of refusal notices for the e-mail is known, the ratio of the number of refusal notices to the total number can be calculated. Therefore, when this ratio is high enough compared to that at usual transmission of an e-mail, the e-mail having this high ratio can be judged as a bothering e-mail that is transmitted to plural recipients without the intention of the recipients. Consequently, the subscriber (sender) of the bothering e-mail can be regulated.  
     [0058] As mentioned above, according to the embodiments of the present invention, an Internet service provider and a subscriber (sender) who transmitted an e-mail, connected to the Internet service provider, receive a refusal notice signifying that recipients of the e-mail do not desire to receive the e-mail with the identification of the sender by e-mails from the recipients. Therefore, transmitting e-mails from the sender is regulated based on the results of the reaction of the recipients that are designated by the sender. Consequently, since the intention of the recipients is transmitted to the sender, it is possible to regulate the sender convincingly.  
     [0059] According to the embodiments of the present invention, when recipients receive an e-mail that the recipients do not desire to receive from a sender, the recipients transmit back the e-mail to the sender. With this, the sender can know the number of e-mails that the recipients do not desire to receive. Moreover, in case that the e-mail was transmitted to these recipients caused by some trouble, some measures preventing this trouble can be taken by the sender. Furthermore, in case that the sender transmits the e-mail to these recipients intentionally, the sender receives a large quantity of original e-mails by the transmission back, therefore, the sender itself must take some measures to avoid the heavy load to the server of the sender.  
     [0060] According to the second embodiment of the present invention, a storing means, in which e-mails refused by recipients have been stored in each of senders, is provided on a network. Therefore, any subscriber who can access to the network can collect information about the refused e-mails. Based on this information, the subscriber can widely and quickly investigate the actual situation of bothering e-mails, and the subscriber can make the sender and/or the Internet service provider connected to the sender take necessary measures to prevent transmitting bothering e-mails.  
     [0061] While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by those embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.