JP3114743B2 - Email information processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail information processing apparatus, and more particularly to display of title information and improvement of a search speed for each mail held in the mail information processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A mail received from a mail management device is held as it is in a file in a memory of a mail information processing device or in an external storage device (for example, JP-A-63-64438, JP-A-63-43838). 63-294156, JP-A-1-13836). To view the contents of the file, open the mail application window and specify the file name. In response, the title information of each mail in the file is displayed at a predetermined position in the window. If the number of emails is large, specify date order and others,
Change the display order and display again, or input a search character and display the found one.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a mail file. Here, the headers 1 to n are codes for separating mails. Set 3 of each title item 81 from “sender” to “importance”
6-1 to 36-n are title information in this example. Since it is difficult to see, the reference numeral 81 is attached only to a part. This is followed by the body of the email. Each mail 61-1 to 61-n is
Usually stored sequentially. This is because the data length of the mail is not constant (defining the data length impairs the flexibility of the mail system). Title information 36-1 to 36-n of each mail is displayed in a window or the like of the mail application. In this case, the file 33 is read in order from the top, and the title information 36-
All or a part of 1 to 36-n is extracted and sent to the display control unit.

[0004]

It takes some time to sequentially retrieve the title information 36-1 to 36-n of each mail. The number and data length of the mails 61 to be received vary widely depending on the time and job. The time from when the window is opened until the title item 81 of each mail is displayed first, after the mail is sorted and displayed again, or until the search result is displayed becomes longer as the number increases. The mail system is used for daily work.
If you wait for the display to appear many times, you will feel frustrated and tired even if you are not impatient.

[0005]

Therefore, according to the present invention, in a mail information processing apparatus for sending and receiving mails to and from a mail management apparatus including a mailbox, title information is transmitted from each mail received from the mail management apparatus. Title file management means for extracting and storing the title file, storage means for storing the title file, data extracting means for extracting list data including desired title items based on the title file, and displaying the list data The above object is achieved by providing a display control means for causing the means to display.

The title file management means, a text file generating means for generating a list data text file including a desired title item based on the title file, a storage means for storing the list data text file, and the text The above object is achieved by providing display control means for displaying list data of files on the display means.

[0007] The title file management means, the text file generation means, the storage means, the display control means, and, for an arbitrary character string inputted, title information including the character string is stored in the list data text file. By providing a search means for searching from among the above, the above-mentioned problem is solved.

[0008]

In the mail information processing apparatus of the present invention realized on a workstation, a personal computer or the like, when a series of mails is supplied from a mail management apparatus called a mail server including a mailbox, The title file management means extracts title information from each mail, and stores the information in a title file generated for each mail file. When the mail application is activated, the data extracting means extracts list data including a title item selected by the user, for example, a sender name and title contents (data) from the title file. The display control means causes the list data to be displayed on a list display section of a window on a display means such as a CRT.

The text file generating means extracts data on the same desired title item from each title information of the title file and generates a list data text file. The storage means such as the main memory stores the list data text file. The display control means causes the list display unit to display the text file. The search means searches the list data text file for title information including the character string.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to first and second embodiments. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the first embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a mail information processing apparatus, which is realized on a workstation in the present embodiment.
A hard disk 2, a disk interface 17, a keyboard 3, a mouse 4, a display 6, and the like are provided.
The display 6 corresponds to a display unit of the apparatus.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a mail management device (mail server) including a mail box 49, which stores a mail 61 transmitted from each workstation (not shown) in the mail box 49 of the destination. The mail box 49 is constructed on storage means (not shown) such as a hard disk or a memory in the mail management device 7. The workstations and the mail management device 7 are mutually connected via a network including a transceiver 8, a coaxial cable 9, and the like.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmission / reception unit which issues a mail transmission request to the mail management device 7 when receiving a mail reception command from the main control unit 32. In response to this, the mail management device 7
Transmits the mail 61 stored in the mailbox 49, the transmission / reception unit 12 stores the mail 61 in the mail file 33 having the designated name. The title file management unit 13 includes title files 34A, 34B,
34C,... Are managed. The means 13 is the title file management means of the present embodiment. These title files 34 are provided corresponding to the respective mail files 33. Upon receiving notification from the main control unit 32 that a new mail 61 has been received, the title information 36 is extracted from each of the mails 61-1 to 61-n of the mail file 33, and the information is stored in the title file 34. .

Each time the mail application is started or the file name of the file selection unit 72 is changed, the data extraction unit 14 performs the data extraction based on the data structure information of the title file 34 held by the main control unit 32. The contents of the title file 34 are interpreted, and data of the title item 81 selected by the user, for example, data of each item including the sender name and the title are extracted. The means 14 is the data extracting means of the present embodiment. The title file 34 to be opened at this time is selected by the file selection section 72 of the console panel 46 of the window 71. As the title item 81, the item set in the item setting routine in the mail application or the item stored in the entire list management data 102 is used. The total list management data 102 also stores the total number of title information 36. 4 in FIG.
Reference numeral 8 denotes a window of this routine, and these title items 81 are displayed at the bottom. The reverse display (hatched in the figure) indicates that it is selected.

The display control unit 15 causes the list data to be displayed on the list display unit 44 of the window 71 on the display 6 composed of a CRT or the like. The means 15 is the display control means of this embodiment. The search unit 16 outputs, for an arbitrary character string, for example, a part of a first name or a last name, a part of the name of a meeting, or the like, for any input character string, the title information 3 including the character string.
6 is searched from the title file 34. The disk interface 17 follows a command from the main control unit 32,
Each mail file 33 and each title file 34 in the data storage unit 18 are stored in the hard disk 2 or read out from the hard disk 2 and read out from the data storage unit 18.
To be stored. The main control unit 32 controls these units 12 to 18. Main control unit 32, transmission / reception unit 12, title file management unit 13, data extraction unit 14, display control unit 15,
The search unit 16 is realized by a central processing unit (not shown) that executes a program. The data storage unit 18 is formed on the main memory. The data storage unit 18 is a storage unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows the processing procedure of the title file management unit 13. First, the name of the mail file 33 is obtained (step S1). The name set in the file selection section 72 is given to the name of the mail file 33. The existence of the title file 34 corresponding to the given mail file name 33 is confirmed (step S2). When the user newly sets the mail file 33, the corresponding title file 34 does not exist. In this case, the process proceeds to step S3 to generate the corresponding title file 34, and returns to step S2 to proceed to step S3. The mail file 3
3 and the title file 34 are opened (step S
4, S5). FIG. 3 shows an example of the title file 34.

Obtain the number of additional mails (step S)
6). This is provided from the main control unit 32. It is checked whether the title information 36 has been read for all the added mails (step S7). At first, the answer is no. In step S8, the head of the newly added mail is read from the mail file 33.
If the mail 61-3 is the mail, the title items 81 such as "Ponta" and "Sep 27" are extracted from the mail and stored in the title file 34 as the record 37-3. This is repeated until the answer in step S7 is "Yes". Thus, the title information 36 of the newly added mail is also added to the title file 34. When deleting a mail, the corresponding record 37 of the title file 34 is also deleted.

In this embodiment, the pointer 91, the mail ID
89 is added to the record 37. The pointer 91 indicates the storage position of the mail. The mail ID 89 is a mail number assigned to each mail file 33 in this embodiment,
This is also displayed on the list display section 44 as one of the selected title items 81. Mail I indicated by marker 92
By finding the corresponding pointer 91 from D89 and directly accessing the mail file 33 with this, the mail can be quickly displayed on the body display 47.

FIG. 4 shows a processing procedure of the search unit 16. The cursor is moved to “Search (reference numeral 9)
8) "and the button of the mouse 4 is clicked, the main control unit 32 activates the search unit 16. The user inputs from the keyboard 3 an arbitrary character string to be searched, for example, "development" and "before or after". The character string is displayed on the display unit 97 of the console panel 46. The search unit 16 is a display unit 97 of the display data storage unit 104
The search target character string is obtained from the portion corresponding to (step S21). It is checked whether the search target character string has one or more characters (step S22). If there is no "str
! Is supplied to the display control unit 15 and displayed on the message display unit 42 (step S23). “Str!” Indicates that there is no search target character string.

If the search target character string is one or more characters, it is checked whether the instruction at that time is "forward search" (step S24). According to the result, a forward or backward search is performed for the title file 34 at that time (steps S25 and S26). If no matching character is detected, a message "No corresponding character string" is supplied to the display control unit 15 and displayed on the message display unit 42 (step S).
27, S28). When there is the detected row (list data 1
03) is inquired to the display control unit 15 as to whether or not it is being displayed on the list display unit 44 (step S29). If “No”, the display control unit 15 is instructed to redisplay the part before and after the detection row 103 (step S3).
0). Finally, the display of the detection line 103 is inverted (step S31).

The overall operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to a window 71 shown in FIG. The user can recognize the number of mails 61 addressed to him by the display on the status information display section 41. When the number of mails determined according to the content of each job or the time of retrieval comes, the mouse 4 is operated and the console panel 46 of the window 71 is operated.
Cursor on "NewMail" and click the mouse 4 button. Alternatively, an equivalent event is excited by operating the keyboard 3. In response, the main control unit 3
Reference numeral 2 instructs the transmission / reception unit 12 to receive the above-described mail. At this time, a message 96 is displayed on the message display section 42. This message indicates that "three mails are being fetched from mailbox 49". When finished, a character 43 is displayed. The mail 61 received at this time is stored in the mail file 33 named “Active” specified by the file selection unit 72.

When the mail 61 has been received, the main controller 32 completes the mails 61-1 to 61-n of the mail file 33.
Of title information 36 in the title file 34
Is instructed to the title file management unit 13 to store the information. Next, the main control unit 32 sets the title file 3
4 instructs the data extraction unit 14 to extract the title item 81 selected by the user from among the items 4. The extracted information is supplied to the display control unit 15. The display control unit 15 stores this data in a corresponding part of the list display unit 44 of the display data storage unit 104. As a result, the list data 1 of each mail for the selected title item 81 is displayed in the list display section 44.
03 is displayed. When the user positions the marker 92 on the mail number 3 indicated by reference numeral 89 and clicks the button of the mouse 4, the content is displayed on the body display 47.

To search by character, the cursor is placed at 98 on the console panel 46 and the mouse 4 button is clicked. The character to be searched, for example, "development" and "beginning match or end match" are entered on the keyboard 3
Enter from. In response to this, the search unit 16 sequentially searches the data of the title file 34 selected at that time. When a record 37 including the word "development" is found, the main control unit 32 sends a command to the display control unit 15, and the list data 103 (detected line) corresponding to the detected record 37 is displayed at that time. For example, the detection line 103 is highlighted, and if not, the portion including the detection line 103 is displayed on the list display unit 44 and is highlighted.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment 201. The difference from the first embodiment is that the text generation unit 19 is added, and the display control unit 15 transfers the list data 103 of the list data text file 31 generated by the text generation unit 19 directly to the list display unit 44. The display is performed, and the search unit 16 performs a search based on the list data text file 31. Identical portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. The text generator 19 extracts the data of each mail 61 for the desired title item 81 from each record 37 of the title file 34, and generates a list data text file 31 including this.

FIG. 7 shows a procedure for generating the list data text file 31. First, the name of the title file 34 is obtained (step S41). The name of the title file 34 is given from the file selection section 72 of the console panel 46. The existence of the given title file 34 is confirmed (step S42). When the user newly sets the mail file 33, the corresponding title file 34 does not exist. In this case, the process proceeds to step S43, where the corresponding title file 34 is generated by the above-described procedure, and the process proceeds to step S44 via step S42. Here, the title file 34 is opened. FIG. 8 shows a file configuration example of the title file 34. The underscore between characters is a half-width or full-width space.

The entire list management data 102 is read from the title file 34 (step S45). The selected title item 81 and the number of records stored in the record 37 stored therein are acquired (step S46). It is checked whether the selected title item 81 has been read for all records 37 (step S47). At first, the answer is no
It is. Proceeding to step S48, the title file 34
From the first (next) record 37. The data of the title item 81 selected from among them is extracted (step S49). The extracted data is stored in the list data text file 31 (step S50). A line feed code is set at the end of the data (step S5).
1). This is repeated until the answer in step S47 is "Yes". As a result, the list data text file 31 in which the data of each mail for the title item 81 selected from the title file 34 is collected is generated.

The main controller 32 closes the title file 34 and supplies the list data text file 31 to the display controller 15 (steps S52 and S53).
The display control unit 15 stores this in the display data storage unit 104, and displays the list data on the list display unit 44. Since it is text data, it is sufficient to simply read and display it, and there is no need to interpret the data structure. The search unit 16 also performs a character search based on the list data text file 31. This also does not require interpretation of the data structure, and may be read out and collated in order. Therefore, the display, search, and sorting are all faster than in the first embodiment.

The items stored in the title file are arbitrary. All or some of the items defined in the mail system may be used. The mail information processing device side may add unique information like the mail ID and the pointer in the present embodiment.

[0028]

According to the present invention, title information is extracted from each received mail, stored in a title file, and stored in the storage means. List data including a desired title item is extracted based on the title file, and is displayed on the display means.

According to the present invention, title information is extracted from each received mail and stored in a title file. Based on the extracted title information, a list data text file including a desired title item is generated and stored in a storage unit. I do. The list data of the text file is displayed on the display means.

According to the present invention, title information is extracted from each received mail and stored in a title file. Based on the extracted title information, a list data text file including a desired title item is generated and stored in a storage unit. I do. The list data of the text file is displayed on the display means, and the title information including the input character string is searched from the list data text file.

Therefore, the time required until the list data of each mail is displayed first, such as when a window is opened, or until it is displayed again after sorting, or until the search result is displayed, is greatly reduced. Is done. Even if the number of e-mails increases, the display does not take a long time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for adding title information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a title file.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a search process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a window.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a list data text generation procedure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a list data text file.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a mail file.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,201 mail information processing apparatus 6 display means 7 mail management apparatus 13 title file management means 14 data extraction means 15 display control means 16 search means 18 storage means 19 text generation means 31 list data text file 34 title file 36 title information 49 mail Box 61 Mail 81 Title item 103 List data

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiaki Okabe 100-1, Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/54 H04L 12/58 G06F 13/00 351

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mail information processing device for sending and receiving mail to and from a mail management device including a mailbox, wherein a title file extracts title information from each mail received from the mail management device and stores the title information in a title file. Management means, storage means for storing the title file, data extraction means for extracting list data including a desired title item based on the title file, and display control means for displaying the list data on a display means. A mail information processing device comprising: 2. A mail information processing apparatus for exchanging mail with a mail management apparatus including a mail box, wherein title information is extracted from each mail received from the mail management apparatus and stored in a title file. Managing means, text file generating means for generating a list data text file including a desired title item based on the title file, storage means for storing the list data text file, and list data of the list data text file. A mail information processing apparatus comprising: display control means for displaying on a display means. 3. A mail information processing device for sending and receiving mail to and from a mail management device including a mailbox, wherein a title file extracts title information from each mail received from the mail management device and stores the title information in a title file. Managing means, text file generating means for generating a list data text file including a desired title item based on the title file, storage means for storing the list data text file, and list data of the list data text file. Mail information processing comprising: display control means for displaying on a display means; and search means for searching the list data text file for title information including the input arbitrary character string from the list data text file. apparatus.