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An electronic mail processing system for distributing an e-mail message from a sender to recipients, which encourages the recipients to open, read, and reply to the e-mail message sent from the sender. An original e-mail message sent from a sender via a sender terminal is stored in an outgoing messa

An electronic mail processing system for distributing an e-mail message from a sender to recipients, which encourages the recipients to open, read, and reply to the e-mail message sent from the sender. An original e-mail message sent from a sender via a sender terminal is stored in an outgoing message storage unit. An outgoing mail information registration unit stores a list of recipients to whom the e-mail message should be delivered, as well as storing information on bonus points. A message sending unit encloses bonus point information in the e-mail message and distributes it to the recipients included on the list. Upon receipt of a reply message from one of the recipients, a reception process unit gives a predetermined number of bonus points to the recipient. Each recipient's bonus points are accumulated in a recipient information storage unit, and he/she can redeem his/her bonus points for gifts depending on the accumulated points. This structural arrangement encourages the recipients to open the sender's message and write reply messages thereto in expectation of the redeemable bonus points, thus allowing the original message sender to collect more reply messages from the recipients than normally expected.

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[ What is claimed is:] [1.] An electronic mail processing system which controls delivery of an e-mail message sent by a sender to a plurality of recipients, comprising:outgoing message storage means for storing the e-mail message sent by the sender;outgoing mail information registration means for st

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] An electronic mail processing system which controls delivery of an e-mail message sent by a sender to a plurality of recipients, comprising:outgoing message storage means for storing the e-mail message sent by the sender;outgoing mail information registration means for storing information corresponding to which recipients of the plurality of recipients the e-mail message should be delivered;message sending means for enclosing bonus point information in the e-mail message stored in said outgoing message storage means and sending the e-mail message having the bonus point information to a registered recipient of the plurality of recipients who is registered in said outgoing mail information registration means, the bonus point information indicating that bonus points will be awarded to the registered recipient if the registered recipient responds to the e-mail message;message receiving means for receiving a reply message sent by the registered recipient in response to the e-mail message sent by said message sending means, and analyzing the reply e-mail message to determine bonus points to be awarded to the registered recipient; andrecipient information storage means, coupled to said message receiving means, for holding a bonus point account of each recipient and adding the determined bonus points to the bonus point account of the registered recipient that sent the reply message,wherein said message receiving means further comprises:reply count evaluation means, responsive to the reply message sent from the registered recipient, for determining whether the reply message is an initial reply message from the registered recipient by referring to recipient-specific information stored in said recipient information storage means;bonus point comparison means, activated in response to said reply count evaluation means determining that the reply message is not an initial reply message, for comparing a bonus point earning value that was previously given to the registered recipient with a new bonus point earning value calculated with respect to the reply message; andpoint accounting means for adding the new bonus point earning value to a bonus point account of the registered recipient when the reply message is the initial reply message or when the new bonus point earning value is larger than the previously given bonus point earning value.