Patent ID: 7574477

Claim:
An electronic mail distributing apparatus connected to at least one external apparatus via a network, comprising: a first storage section that stores e-mail addresses as destinations of e-mails to be distributed; a second storage section that stores e-mail addresses to which e-mail distribution is rejected; a distributing section that distributes desired e-mails addressed to the e-mail addresses stored in said first storage section; a first receiving section that receives an e-mail address as a destination of e-mails to be distributed from at least one of the external apparatus; a first determining section that determines whether the e-mail address received by said first receiving section is stored in said second storage section; a first registration control section that provides control to register the received e-mail address in said first storage section when said first determining section determines that the received e-mail address is not stored in said second storage section; a first authenticating section that requests authentication information from the external apparatus to carry out an authenticating process on the received e-mail address when said first determining section determines that the received e-mail address is stored in said second storage section; a second registration control section provides control to register the received e-mail address in said first storage section when said first authenticating section has succeeded in authentication of the received e-mail address, and to reject registration of the received e-mail address in said first storage section when said first authenticating section has failed in authentication of the received e-mail address; a second receiving section that receives an e-mail address, to which e-mail distribution is to be rejected, from at least one of the external apparatus; a second determining section that determines whether the e-mail address received by said second receiving section is stored in said first storage section; a fourth registration control section that provides control to register the received e-mail address in said second storage section when said second determining section determines that the received e-mail address is not stored in said first storage section; a second authenticating section that requests authentication information from the external apparatus to carry out an authenticating process on the received e-mail address when said second determining section determines that the received e-mail address is stored in said first storage section; and a fifth registration control section that provides control to delete the received e-mail address from said first storage section and registers the e-mail address in said second storage section when said second authenticating section has succeeded in authentication of the received e-mail address, and to reject registration of the received e-mail address in said second storage section when said second authenticating section has failed in authentication of the received e-mail address.