Patent ID: 8086681

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for transmitting and receiving electronic mail within a network, the image forming apparatus comprising: a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, said medium storing an identification information storage unit storing identification information on said medium; a loop mail judgment unit for judging whether or not the received electronic mail is loop mail, based on the identification information stored in the identification information storage unit; and a loop mail process control unit, configured to forward the received electronic mail if the loop mail judgment unit judges that the received electronic mail is loop mail, and responsive to a forwarding selection to forward the loop mail to a mail address set beforehand as a shelter destination of loop mail such that loop mail in an infinite loop state escapes from said infinite loop state, the loop mail process control unit further including: a loop upper limit number storage unit, configured to store an upper limit number of loops, wherein the loop mail process control unit is configured to execute a loop mail process when a number of loops of the received electronic mail exceeds the number of loops stored in the loop upper limit number storage unit, and a notifying address storage unit, wherein, when the loop mail process is executed, the loop process control unit is configured to confirm whether or not a notifying process is selected by a user, to acquire a mail address of a notifying destination from the notifying address storage unit, and to create and transmit a notification mail to the notifying destination.