A mail server with a forwarding function provided for a company mail
server or an ISP mail server with which a user belonging to the company
is contracted has at least a user table storing user passwords and the
like; an address table storing forwarding addresses for each user;
regulating tables for regulating the forwarding time periods of each day
and the number of characters in a forwarded e-mail for each forwarding
address; and a rejection table for preventing some e-mail from being
forwarded based on the contents of the e-mail header or the text.
Provided a user is authenticated by a password, the user can assign daily
forwarding time periods stored in the table for each of a plurality of
terminals, such as a home computer, cellular telephone, or other portable
terminal. The user can also input weekly conditions for canceling such
forwarding. When the mail server receives e-mail, the server references
the rejection table to determine whether the incoming e-mail falls within
the forwarding conditions. If the e-mail does fall within the forwarding
conditions, the server compares the forwarding time period for the
destination terminals with the current time and transfers the e-mail to
those terminals that conform to the time condition.