JP2003091484A - Information terminal equipment and attached file managing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide information terminal equipment capable of easily judging the attachment destination of a file at the time of starting the file without making it necessary to operate any troublesome work. SOLUTION: A file attached to a received mail is preserved in a prescribed folder so as to be made correspond to the received mail. When the file is started, whether or not the file is a mail attached file is judged (steps C11-13), and when it is judged that the file is a mail attached file, the information of the attached file is read and started from the preserving folder (steps C15-C17), and the received mail corresponding to the attached file is judged, and the mail information is displayed (steps C18, C19). When the file is started, the received mail which is attached with the file is simultaneously displayed so that the corresponding relation of the attached file and the received mail can be easily judged on the screen without searching which received mail is attached with the file.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a personal computer and a PDA.
The present invention relates to an information terminal device such as (Personal Digital Assistant), and more particularly to an information terminal device having a function of managing a file attached to a received mail and an attached file management program for managing the attached file.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Information terminal devices such as personal computers and PDAs are provided with application software for exchanging electronic mail as standard equipment, and can send and receive mail data via the Internet or the like.

In this electronic mail, files such as music and images can be attached in addition to sentences, and when the receiving side confirms that there is an attached file in the received mail,
The content can be viewed by downloading the attached file on a disk by a predetermined operation and then reading the file on an application corresponding to the file. However, in the conventional information terminal device, when the file attached to the received mail is saved in an arbitrary folder, the attached file is managed separately from the received mail, so when the file is started, it is attached to any received mail. There was a problem that it could not be determined whether it was what was there.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional information terminal device, it was not possible to determine which received mail the file was attached to when the file was started. Therefore, each received mail was checked. , Work such as finding the attachment destination of the running file is required,
It was very bad.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an information terminal device and attached file management capable of easily discriminating an attachment destination of a file at the time of starting the file without requiring troublesome work. The purpose is to provide the program.

[0006]

An information terminal device according to claim 1 of the present invention is an information terminal device having an e-mail transmission / reception function, wherein a file attached to a received mail is added to the received mail. An attached file management unit that associates and stores the file in a predetermined storage folder and manages it, and a file startup that reads and starts the corresponding attachment file from the predetermined storage folder when the attachment file to be started is specified. And a mail display means for displaying information of the received mail to which the file is attached when the attached file is activated by the file activation means.

With this configuration, the file attached to the received mail is managed in association with the received mail, and when the file is started, the received mail corresponding to the attached file is displayed at the same time. It is possible to easily discriminate which received email was attached above.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information terminal device according to the first aspect, the attached file management means determines a genre of the attached file and associates the received mail with the determined genre. It is characterized in that it is stored in a predetermined storage folder and managed.

With such a configuration, since the attached files are classified by genre and automatically managed in association with the received mail, for example, music and images can be stored without the user's own classification and saving work. It can be managed by categorizing into such genres, and when the attached file is started, the corresponding received mail is displayed at the same time, so that the attachment destination can be easily identified.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a plurality of information terminal devices 1a, 1b ... Are connected via a network 2 and further the network 2 is connected. Is provided with a music distribution server 3.

The information terminal devices 1a, 1b, etc. are, for example, personal computers, PDAs, etc., and are equipped with various application software for realizing electronic mail and the like. Although the Internet is assumed as the network 2, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wid)
e Area Network) as well as public lines. Although not particularly shown in FIG. 1, there are many providers (internet connection providers) who provide internet connection services on the network 2, and the information terminal devices 1a, 1b ... You can send and receive e-mail by connecting to a provider that is already using.

The music distribution server 3 includes an information terminal device 1a,
It is provided on the network 2 as an information providing device that provides music information in response to a request from 1b.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information terminal device 1a. The other information terminal devices 1b ... Have the same configuration.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information terminal device 1a in this embodiment has a CPU 11, a ROM 12, and a RAM 1.
Equipped with 3. The CPU 11 is responsible for overall control of the apparatus, and executes various processes by reading a program stored in advance in the ROM 12 or a program stored in the recording medium 15 via the external storage device 14. In the ROM 12, various information including a control program for activating the CPU 11 and application software for realizing electronic mail are stored in advance.

The RAM 13 stores information necessary for the processing operation of the CPU 11, and here stores a received mail and a file attached to the received mail. Further, the RAM 13 is provided with various tables 13a to 13e necessary for managing attached files.
These tables 13a to 13e will be described later with reference to FIGS.

The recording medium 15 and the external storage device 14 are
For example, it is a medium such as a magnetic disk and its reading device (HDD or the like). A program for implementing the present invention can be recorded in the recording medium 15 and provided via the external storage device 14. The external storage device 14 is, for example, a flexible disk device, a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a CD-ROM device, a flash memory, etc., and the recording medium 15 is a medium corresponding to these devices. The method of providing the program is not limited to the recording medium 15, but the program itself may be provided from an external terminal via the network 2. It is also possible to save the received mail and the information of the file attached to the received mail in the recording medium 15.

Further, in this apparatus, the input unit 16 and the display unit 1
7, a communication control unit 18, etc. are provided. These are R
The OM 12, the RAM 13, and the external storage device 14 are connected to the CPU 11 via the system bus 19.

The input unit 16 is an input device including, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, etc., and inputs data and makes various instructions. The display unit 17 is, for example, L
CD (Liquid Crystal Display) and CRT (Cathode-ra)
y tube) is a display device such as, and displays various data. The communication control unit 18 controls data communication with an external terminal via the network 2.

Next, various tables 13a to 13e provided in the RAM 13 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the mail management table 13a.

The mail management table 13a is a table for managing the received mails, and corresponds to the ID (identification information) attached to each received mail, such as a subject, a sender, a recipient, a reception date and time. Information is registered. In the example of FIG. 3, the subject, the sender, the recipient, and the reception date and time of two received mails having IDs “M101” and “M102” are registered. These pieces of information are extracted from the attribute information (header information) of the received mail. The text (contents) of the mail information is assumed to be stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 13 in association with the ID.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the attached file management table 13b.

The attached file management table 13b is a table for managing the files attached to the received mail, and the name, size, genre,
Information such as a storage folder and a mail information ID is registered. Of these, information other than the genre and the storage folder is extracted from the attribute information of the attached file, and the genre and the storage folder are obtained from the genre determination process described later.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, "○ × Δ.dat" and "○
○. The sizes, genres, storage folders, and mail information IDs of two attached files having a file name such as "mns" are registered. For example, “○ × Δ.d
If “at”, the size of the attached file is “56K
B ”, the genre thereof is“ text ”, the document is stored in the storage folder“ A ”, and the ID of the corresponding received mail is“ M101 ”.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the storage destination designation table 13c.

The save destination designation table 13c is a table in which the save destination of the attached file is designated, and the name of the save folder and the name of its genre are registered. In the example of FIG. 5, the storage folder “A” is “text”, the storage folder “B-1” is “classic”, and the storage folder “B-2”.
Is "Jazz", the storage folder "B-3" is "Rock",
The storage folder "B-4" is classified by genre such as "Japanese music" and the storage folder "C" by "image".

FIG. 6 shows an extension / genre correspondence table 1.
It is a figure which shows the structure of 3d.

The extension / genre correspondence table 13d is a table in which extensions and genres are defined.
In the example of FIG. 6, the extension “abc” is “text”, the extension “dat” is “text”, the extension “mns” is “music”,
The extension “gaz” is defined as “image”. Note that these extensions are given as examples and do not always exist.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of the music file discrimination table 13e.

The music file discrimination table 13e is a table for discriminating music files, in which information such as file name, tag information, intro information, genre, etc. is registered. These pieces of information are extracted from the attribute information of the music file (attached file).

Next, regarding the processing operation of this apparatus, (a)
The mail receiving process, (b) file starting process, and (c) save folder registration process will be separately described with reference to the respective flowcharts. A program for realizing each function shown in the following flowcharts is stored in the recording medium 15 shown in FIG. 1 in the form of a program code readable by the CPU 11.

(A) Mail receiving process FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the mail receiving process of this apparatus.

Now, any of the information terminal devices 1a, 1b, ... Starts up the electronic mail application,
Suppose you have received an email sent from outside. The information of the received mail at this time is the unique ID for each mail.
And is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 13, for example.

When the received mail is opened by a predetermined operation, the received mail screen 21 as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed (step A11), and the attribute information (header information) is extracted from the received mail. As shown in FIG.
Information such as the subject, sender, destination, and reception date and time included in the attribute information is registered in the mail management table 13a in association with the ID of the received mail (step A).
12).

If a file is attached to the received mail (Yes in step A13), it is determined whether or not to save the attached file (step A1).
4). As shown in FIG. 12, when a file is attached to the received mail, the content display field 22 of the received mail screen 21 is displayed.
The icon 23 is displayed on. When this icon 23 is selected, a pull-down menu 24 is displayed so that it is possible to select whether or not to save the attached file.
Select the "ES" button (Yes in step A14)
s), the following attachment file saving process is executed.

That is, first, attribute information of the attached file is extracted, and as shown in FIG. 4, the name of the attached file,
Information such as size, mail information ID, and transmission date and time is registered in the attached file management table 13b (step A
15).

Next, the genre of the attached file is judged (step A16). The genre determination process here will be described later in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the genre of the attached file is judged,
It is determined whether or not a save folder corresponding to the genre is registered in the save destination designation table 13c (step A17). As shown in FIG. 5, storage folders designated by genre are prepared in advance in the storage destination designation table 13c, and if the storage folders corresponding to the storage destination designation table 13c have been registered (step A
17), the attached file is saved in the save folder (step A18). In addition, as the attached file is saved, the attached file management table 13b shown in FIG.
The genre name and the storage folder name corresponding to the attached file are respectively registered in (step A19).

On the other hand, in step A17, if the corresponding save folder is not registered, a message indicating that the genre is not registered is displayed (step A20). Upon receiving this message in which the genre is not registered, the user can save the attached file there by creating a new save folder. in this case,
It is convenient for the user to create a storage folder for each genre by adding the name of the genre determined in step A16 to the message. The process of newly registering the save folder will be described later with reference to FIG.

Next, the attachment file genre determination processing executed in step A16 will be described.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the genre judgment processing.

First, the extension is extracted from the file name given to the attached file (step B11). The extension is a specific character string that indicates the file type, and is added after the file name, separated by periods. As shown in FIG. 6, this apparatus is provided with an extension / genre correspondence table 13d, and the genre of the attached file is determined by referring to this correspondence table 13d (step B12). That is, for example, when an extension such as “abc” is added, it is determined that the genre of the attached file is “text”.

If it is determined that the genre of the attached file is a specific genre (here, "music") (Yes in step B13), the music file included in the attribute information of the attached file. The discrimination information is extracted and registered in the music file discrimination table 13e shown in FIG. 7 (step B14). The music file identification information indicates the structure of the music information stored in the attached file, and includes information such as "file name", "tag information", "intro information", and "genre". This is added when the music distribution server 3 in FIG. 1 distributes the music information. That is, the music distribution server 3
When the music information provided by the company is attached to an electronic mail, the music file discrimination information is added to the attached file as attribute information and sent to the other party.

If the attached file is a music file, the music genre is judged in order to save it in the storage folder corresponding to the genre peculiar to the music information (step B15). The music genre is described in the "genre" of the music file discrimination information, and includes, for example, "classical", "jazz", "rock", "Japanese music", etc., and in step A18 of FIG. The attached file (music file) is saved in the save folder corresponding to.

As described above, when a file is attached to the received mail, the user simply saves the attached file and saves and manages it in a storage folder corresponding to the genre of the attached file. be able to. Furthermore, specific information such as the music information can be managed in a more detailed genre.

(B) File Starting Process Next, the starting process of each file including the attached file saved in this apparatus will be described.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the file starting process of this apparatus.

When the display of the file selection screen is instructed by a predetermined operation, a file selection screen (not shown) in which the name of each file including the attached file stored in the present apparatus is described is displayed (step C11). By designating the file name to be activated in this file selection screen (step C12), the following file activation process is executed.

That is, first, the attached file management table 13b of FIG. 4 is referred to, and it is determined whether or not the name of the file designated by the user is registered in the attached file management table 13b (step C13). As a result, if the name of the designated file is not registered in the attached file management table 13b (step C1
No. 3), it is determined that the file is a file other than the attached file, the designated file is read from a predetermined location, and normal startup processing is executed (step C14).

On the other hand, if the name of the specified file is registered in the attached file management table 13b (Yes in step C13), it is determined that the file is an attached file, and the name of the folder in which the attached file is saved. Is determined from the "save folder" in the attached file management table 13b (step C15). Then, the information of the attached file is read from the corresponding storage folder and activated (steps C116 and C17). In this case, if the attached file is "text" or "image", the information is displayed by launching the corresponding application, and if it is "music", the music information is played by launching the music playback application. The process is executed.

At this time, the ID of the mail information corresponding to the attached file is the attached file management table 1 in FIG.
It is judged from the "mail information ID" of 3b (step C
18). Then, the mail management table 13a of FIG. 3 is searched based on this ID, and the corresponding mail information is read from a predetermined location and displayed in association with the attached file (step C19). FIG. 13 shows a screen example when the attached file is started. In the figure, 31 is an attached file screen and 32 is a mail screen. On the mail screen 32,
The information of the received mail corresponding to the currently activated attached file is displayed on the attached file screen 31. The mail screen 32 is displayed at the same time in association with the currently activated attached file, such as being displayed as a window on the attached file screen 31. The attached file is "music"
If it is, the title or the like is displayed on the attached file screen 31 during the reproduction of the music information.

In this way, when the attached file is activated, the received mail corresponding to the attached file is displayed at the same time, so it is easy to determine which received mail was attached on the display screen. it can.

(C) Saving Folder Registration Process Next, the saving folder registration process, which is the storage destination of the attached file, will be described.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the storage folder registration processing of this apparatus.

When a save folder registration is instructed by a predetermined operation, a save folder registration screen 41 as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed.
Is displayed (step D11). On the save folder registration screen 41, a list display section 42 displaying a list of currently registered genres and save folders, a genre specifying section 43 and a save folder specifying section 44 for specifying a genre and a save folder, A “register” button 45 for issuing a registration instruction and a “delete” button 46 for issuing a deletion instruction are provided.

Here, in the case of newly registering a genre and a storage folder (registration in step D12), after inputting a desired genre name and folder name in the genre designating section 43 and the storage folder designating section 44 respectively (step D1).
3), press the "register" button 45 (step D1)
4). By such an operation, a save folder is created according to the entered genre name and folder name, and the save folder information is stored in the save destination designation table 13c of FIG.
Is additionally registered (step D15). After that, the attached files including the additionally registered storage folders are stored by genre.

In addition, in the case of deleting the registered storage folder (deletion in step D12), after selecting the name of the storage folder to be deleted on the list display section 42 (step D16), "Delete" The "button 46 is pressed (step D17). By such an operation, the information of the selected storage folder is stored in the storage destination designation table 13
It is deleted from c (step D18).

As described above, the user can arbitrarily register or delete the storage folders for each genre, and when the electronic mail is received thereafter, the file attached to the received mail is stored in the existing storage folder. You can then manage by genre.

In the above embodiment, the genres of the music files (“classical”, “jazz”, “rock”,
It has been explained that the attribute information of the attached file has information (music file discrimination information) provided in advance when discriminating "Japanese music", etc. The distribution server 3 may be inquired about the genre.

Further, not only music files but also image files, for example, "moving image", "still image", and the like, can be managed by further classifying the genres according to the type of image.

In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be variously modified at the stage of implementation without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The methods described in the above-described embodiments are, for example, magnetic disks (flexible disks, hard disks, etc.), optical disks (CD-ROM, etc.) as programs that can be executed by a computer.
It is also possible to write it on a recording medium such as a DVD) or a semiconductor memory and apply it to various devices, or to transmit the program itself via a transmission medium such as a network and apply it to various devices. A computer that realizes the present apparatus reads the program recorded in the recording medium or the program provided via the transmission medium, and the operation is controlled by the program to execute the above-described processing.

[0064]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the file attached to the received mail is managed in association with the received mail, and the received mail corresponding to the attached file is displayed at the same time when the file is started. By doing so, it is convenient that the correspondence relationship can be easily discriminated on the screen without searching for which received mail the file was attached to.

Further, since the attached files are classified by genre and managed in association with the received mail, the user can classify the attached files into genres such as music and images without performing the classification and saving work of the attached files. The attached file can be managed, and when the attached file is activated, the corresponding received mail is displayed at the same time, so that the attachment destination can be easily identified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mail management table provided in the information terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an attached file management table provided in the information terminal device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a storage destination designation table provided in the information terminal device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an extension / genre correspondence table provided in the information terminal device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a music file discrimination table provided in the information terminal device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a mail receiving process in the information terminal device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a genre determination process in the information terminal device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a file activation process in the information terminal device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a save folder registration process in the information terminal device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of a received mail screen in the information terminal device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of an attached file starting screen in the information terminal device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of a save folder registration screen in the information terminal device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b ... Information terminal device 2 ... Network 3 ... Music distribution server 11 ... CPU 12 ... ROM 13 ... RAM 13a ... mail management table 13b ... Attachment management table 13c ... Save destination designation table 13d ... Extension and genre correspondence table 13e ... Music file discrimination table 14 ... External storage device 15 ... Recording medium 16 ... Input section 17 ... Display 18 ... Communication control unit 21 ... Received mail screen 22 ... Content display column 23 ... Icon 31 ... Attachment file screen 32 ... Mail screen 41 ... Save folder registration screen 42 ... List display section 43 ... Genre designation section 44 ... Saving folder designation section 45 ... "Register" button 46 ... "Delete" button

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information terminal device having an e-mail transmission / reception function, wherein an attached file management means manages a file attached to a received mail by storing the file in a predetermined storage folder in association with the received mail. And, when the attachment file to be activated is designated, a file activation means for reading the relevant attachment file from the predetermined storage folder and activating the file, and the file activation means for activating the attachment file. An information terminal device, comprising: mail display means for displaying the information of the received mail attached with. 2. The attached file management means determines a genre of an attached file, and stores the attached file in a predetermined storage folder in association with the received mail according to the determined genre and manages it. 1. The information terminal device according to 1. 3. An attached file management program used in a computer having a function of sending and receiving electronic mail, wherein a file attached to a received mail is associated with the received mail in a predetermined storage folder in the computer. A function to save and manage, a function to read and start the corresponding attachment file from the predetermined save folder when the attachment file to be activated is specified, and a file to be associated with the activation of the attachment file. An attached file management program that realizes the function to display the information of the received mail that was attached.