JP3275868B2 - Apparatus and method for creating mail with importance, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for creating a mail with importance, and a recording medium for recording a program for executing the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic mail transmitted using a mailing list. The present invention relates to a technique for assigning a different importance to each member included in a mailing list.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An application program (mailer) generally used for sending and receiving e-mails includes a list of subject names of received e-mails. It has a function to indicate importance. For example, the mailer displays a symbol (icon) indicating the degree of importance next to the subject of each e-mail on a screen displaying a list of the subjects of the received e-mails. This allows the recipient of the e-mail to visually recognize the importance of each e-mail.

When an e-mail is transmitted, the destination address is often specified individually, but it is necessary to transmit the same e-mail to members in a specific group. Therefore, it is also common practice to specify a preset mailing list name and to send an e-mail with the same content to all addresses included in the specified mailing list.

[0004]

In the case where electronic mails of the same content are transmitted using a mailing list, the electronic mails can be given importance. However, in this case, an e-mail with the same content could be sent only to the same importance to all the addresses included in the mailing list. For this reason, if you want to assign different degrees of importance to emails even if they have the same content, you cannot use the mailing list. Must be described one by one, and the operation is very complicated.

[0005] By the way, the transmission and reception of electronic mail as described above is performed by a mail transfer system conforming to international regulations. If this rule is changed, it is theoretically possible to send the same e-mail using the mailing list and assign different importance to each address. However, if such a function is to be realized due to a change in the rules, all of the currently used mail transfer systems must be replaced with new mail transfer systems. Become.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and is intended to be used when sending an e-mail using a mailing list without changing the rules of the e-mail. And a method for creating a mail with importance, which can send an e-mail with a different importance for each member included in the computer, and a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for executing the method is recorded. The purpose is to:

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus for creating a mail with importance according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a mailing list storing means for storing a mailing list name and an address contained therein in association with each other. And inputting a mailing list name specified in the mailing list storage means, a destination in which an address in the specified mailing list name is described as an annotation in association with importance, and a mail document associated with the destination. Destination / mail document inputting means, and the importance of creating an e-mail for each importance in which the mail document input from the destination / mail document inputting means is attached with the importance described in the comment of the destination. The mailing list included in the destination is referred to by referring to the An importance-based address setting unit that analyzes a list name and a comment and sets a destination address for each of the importance-based e-mails created by the importance-based mail creation unit. Features.

[0008] In the above-described mailing apparatus with importance, the electronic mail for each importance is created by the mailing means with importance, and the destination address is assigned to each of the electronic mails for each importance by the address setting means for each importance. Is set.
That is, the electronic mail with the importance can be sent to a desired address. To do this, a mailing list name, an address, and a degree of importance may be associated as a destination from the mail document input means. For this reason, it is possible to create an e-mail with a degree of importance by using the mailing list and to transmit the e-mail to each desired address.

[0009] The correspondence between the address and the importance at the destination is described as an annotation. For this reason, even if a mail transfer system is interposed between the destination / mail document input means and the mail creation means with importance and the address setting means with importance, the mail transfer system will operate according to the conventional rules. / It is possible to correctly transfer the destination and the mail document input from the mail document input means.

In the above-mentioned mail creating apparatus with importance, the destination / mail document input means may be capable of writing a part of the address as an annotation in association with the importance. At this time, the importance-based address setting means is stored in the mailing list storage means in association with the mailing list name, including a part of the address included in the comment input from the destination / mail document input means. The address may be set as an address to which an e-mail of the corresponding importance is sent.

[0011] The above-mentioned mailing apparatus with importance is also provided with mailing list name judging means for judging whether or not the mailing list name in the address inputted from the address / mail document input means is stored in the mailing list storage means. When the mailing list name determination means determines that the mailing list name is not stored, the mailing list name determination means may further include a first error notification means for performing a predetermined error notification.

[0012] Further, the importance-based address setting means includes:
Address determination means for determining whether an address included in the comment in the destination input from the destination / mail document input means is stored in the mailing list storage means in correspondence with the input mailing list name; When the determination means determines that the address is not stored, a second error notification means for performing a predetermined error notification may be provided.

In order to achieve the above object, a method for creating a mail with importance according to a second aspect of the present invention specifies a mailing list name and associates an address in the specified mailing list name with a degree of importance as a comment. A destination / mail document input step for inputting the destination described and a mail document associated with the destination; and an important document described in the annotation of the destination in the mail document input in the destination / mail document input step. A mailing list with an importance level for creating an e-mail for each importance level, and a mailing list name included in the destination while referring to an address stored in advance in association with the specified mailing list name. And the annotations are analyzed, and each of the e-mails according to the importance created in the above-mentioned e-mail with importance is created. Characterized in that it comprises a Severity address setting step for setting a destination to become address Te.

[0014] To achieve the above object, a computer-readable recording medium according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises:
A destination / mail document input step of inputting a destination in which a mailing list name is specified and an address in the specified mailing list name is described as a comment in association with importance, and a mail document associated with the destination; A mailing step for creating an e-mail for each importance, in which the mail document input in the mail document input step is attached with the importance described in the comment of the destination, and a designated mailing list The mailing list name and the annotation included in the destination are analyzed by referring to the address stored in advance in association with the name, and the e-mail of each importance created in the mail creation step with importance is analyzed. And an address setting step for setting an address to be sent to the destination according to importance. Characterized in that it records the beam.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail system according to this embodiment. As shown, the e-mail system includes a mail input terminal 1
And a mail server machine 4 connected to the mail input terminal 1 via zero or more arbitrary mail transfer systems 2 and 3 (here, two are shown, but this may not be present). including.

The mail input terminal 1 includes an input device such as a CPU, a memory and a keyboard, an output device such as a display, and an information processing device including a communication device.
It has the function of.

The destination / mail document input unit 11 inputs a mailing list name, followed by a comment describing the correspondence between the importance of an e-mail and an address (hereinafter referred to as a mailing list name and a mailing list name) in accordance with an operation by an operator. The subsequent comment is called the destination). As shown in FIG. 2, the destination includes a mailing list address (mailing list name) followed by a comment enclosed in "". The correspondence between the degree and the e-mail destination address is specified.

The destination / mail document input unit 11 also creates a text of an electronic mail and, if necessary, an attached file (hereinafter referred to as a mail document) according to an operation by the operator. The destination / mail document input unit 11 associates the input destination with the mail document (hereinafter, this is referred to as a destination / mail document) and passes it to the mail transmission unit 12.

The mail transmitting section 12 receives the destination / mail document input from the destination / mail document input section 11,
The received destination / mail document is transmitted to the connected mail transfer system 2 (if the electronic mail system does not include the mail transfer system, the connected mail server machine 4).

The mail transfer systems 2 and 3 sequentially transfer the destination / mail document transmitted from the mail transmission unit 12 of the mail input terminal 1 to the mail server machine 4. If the e-mail transfer system does not include a mail transfer system at all, the destination / mail document is directly transmitted from the mail transmission unit 12 of the mail input terminal 1 to the mail server machine 4.

The mail server machine 4 includes an information processing device including a CPU, a memory, and a communication device, and includes a mail receiving unit 41, a destination analyzing unit 42, and a mail transmitting unit 4.
The mail server program 45 having the functions of the program 4 operates. The mail server machine 4 stores a mailing list information file 43 in its memory.

The mail receiving section 41 receives a destination / mail document transmitted from the mail transmitting section 12 of the mail input terminal 1 via the mail transfer systems 2 and 3 or directly. Thereby, the destination / mail document is input to the mail server machine 4. The mail receiving unit 41 passes the received destination / mail document to the destination analyzing unit 42.

The destination analyzing unit 42 extracts a destination from the destination / mail document received from the mail receiving unit 41 and analyzes the extracted destination. That is, it is checked whether the mailing list name at the head of the destination exists in the mailing list information file 43. If there is a mailing list name, the comment added after the mailing list name in the destination is analyzed, the importance is entered, and the electronic mail of the destination / mail document in the destination / mail document received from the mail receiving unit 41 is written according to the importance. An e-mail is created, and the addresses included in the mailing list are classified according to importance and set as destinations. In addition,
If there is no mailing list name, the destination analysis unit 4
2 notifies the mail input terminal 1 that the destination is unknown.

The mailing list information file 43 is a file for storing a mailing list name and the addresses of members included therein in association with each other. The mailing list information file 43 is referred to when the destination analyzing unit 42 analyzes the destination.

The mail transmission unit 44 sends out the e-mails of different degrees of importance created by the destination analysis unit 42 to the network 6 with the addresses classified according to the respective destinations as destinations.

The mail server program 45 is stored in the storage medium 5, and the mail server machine 4
The mail server program 45 is loaded from the storage medium 5 into the memory, and the loaded mail server program 45 is loaded.
Start Here, the storage medium 5 is a semiconductor RO
M (Read Only Memory), magnetic tape, magnetic disk,
Any medium that can be read by a computer, such as an optical disk and a magneto-optical disk, can be used.

The network 6 is, for example, an in-house LAN
(Local Area Network) is a network in a closed environment, and includes a mailbox for storing e-mail transmitted from the mail transmission unit 44 of the mail server machine 4, for example, a server machine installed for each section in the company (Not shown). This server machine is further connected to a recipient terminal (not shown) which is a destination of the e-mail, and the mail server machine 4
Via the server machine (not shown).

An operation for creating an e-mail in the e-mail system of FIG. 1 and transmitting it to members included in the mailing list will be described below with reference to a specific example. Here, the mailing list information file 43 contains a mailing list name as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the maillist and the destination address of the corresponding e-mail are stored.

First, the operator of the mail input terminal 1 inputs a destination shown in FIG. 5 and a desired mail document from the destination / mail document input section 11, respectively. The destination / mail document input unit 11 passes the destination / mail document in which the input destination is associated with the mail document to the mail transmitting unit 12. Then, the mail transmitting unit 12 transmits the destination / mail document to the mail server machine 4 via the mail transfer systems 2 and 3 (in some cases, without passing through the mail transfer system).

In the mail server machine 4, the mail receiving section 41 receives the destination / mail document from the mail input terminal 1 and passes it to the destination analyzing section 42. The destination analysis unit 42
Upon receiving the destination / mail document from the mail receiving unit 41, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is started.

When the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 starts, the destination analyzing unit 42 extracts the destination shown in FIG. 5 from the destination / mail document 1 from the mail input terminal 1 (step S1). Then, the destination analyzing unit 42 extracts the mailing list name at the head of the extracted destination (step S2).

Next, the destination analyzer 42 accesses the mailing list information file 43 and determines whether or not the extracted mailing list name is stored in the mailing list information file 43 (step S3). If the target mailing list name is not in the mailing list information file 43, the destination analyzing unit 42 performs a predetermined process for notifying the mail input terminal 1 that the destination is unknown (step S4). Then, the process of this flowchart ends.

On the other hand, if the target mailing list name is found in the mailing list information file 43, the destination analyzing unit 42 determines the importance of the e-mail included in the comment enclosed in "" in the destination and the corresponding mailing list. The information about the member (address) in the table is extracted (step S5). Then, the destination analyzing unit 42 performs processing for transmitting the electronic mail with the importance to the member (address) corresponding to the importance (step S6).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the details of the processing in step S6 of FIG. In the processing of this flowchart, the destination analysis unit 42 repeats the processing of the loop 1 while moving to the information on the next importance until there is no information on the importance included in the annotation as shown in FIG. 2 (step S61). -S61 '). In the loop 1, the destination analysis unit 42 first extracts the importance included in the annotation in order, and writes the importance in an e-mail to be created (step S62).

Next, the destination analyzing section 42 executes step S62.
The process of loop 2 is repeated while moving to the information on the next member until there is no information on the member (information on the address) following the importance extracted in step (steps S63-S63 ′). In the loop 2, the destination analyzing unit 42
Extracts the information about the member from the annotation and determines whether the corresponding address is stored in the mailing list information file 43 in association with the target mailing list name (step S64).

If there is no corresponding address in the mailing list information file 43, the destination analyzing section 42
Performs a predetermined process for notifying the mail input terminal 1 that the destination is unknown (step S65). And
If there is information about the next member, repeat loop 2
If not, the process exits the loop 2.

On the other hand, if there is at least one corresponding address in the mailing list information file 43, the destination analyzing unit 42 enters all the corresponding addresses as the transmission destinations of the e-mail corresponding to the importance (step S6).
6). If there is information on the next member, the loop 2 is repeated, and if not, the process exits the loop 2.

Further, the destination analysis unit 42 extracts the mail document from the destination / mail document from the mail input terminal 1, writes the importance in step S62, and follows the e-mail with the address written in step S66. Fill in (Step S67). In this example, the processing of loop 1 is repeated three times, and the first processing of step S67 is performed as shown in FIG.
The e-mail shown in FIG. 8 (the one having a high degree of importance) is converted to the e-mail shown in FIG. 8 by the processing in the second step S67, and the e-mail shown in FIG.
(E.g., an email with a low degree of importance) is created.

Next, when there is no more information on the next importance in the annotation of the destination acquired in step S1, the processing exits from loop 1 (steps S61-S61 '), and the destination analysis unit 42 The process returns to the routine (FIG. 3). After returning to the processing of FIG. 3, the destination analysis unit 42 ends the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 3 without going to the next step.

As described above, in the e-mail system according to this embodiment, even when an e-mail is transmitted using a mailing list, different importance is assigned to each member (address) included in the mailing list. E-mail can be sent. This eliminates the need for the operator of the mail input terminal 1 that is the source of the e-mail to input the address of the destination one by one, thereby eliminating complicated operations.

Further, the correspondence between the importance of the electronic mail and the address included in the mailing list is performed in the comment enclosed by "". For this reason, the mail transfer systems 2 and 3 transmit the destination /
The mail document can be transferred to the mail server machine 4 according to the conventional international rules. Then, an e-mail with the importance is sent from the mail server machine 4 to each address. Therefore, if only the mail server machine 4 has the function of analyzing the destination in the format of FIG. 2, even if this international agreement is not changed, different importance is assigned to each member (address) included in the mailing list. E-mail can be sent, and there is no problem from the viewpoint of feasibility.

In this way, it is possible to send an e-mail with a different degree of importance for each member (address) included in the mailing list. When sending an e-mail to the department manager and section manager, use a mailing list containing the addresses of the section managers of section A and B as members, and assign importance level 3 to section manager A and section B and section A business. It is also possible to easily send the e-mail with the importance level 2 to the sales manager of the department and the importance level 1 to others.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
Various modifications and applications are possible. Hereinafter, modifications of the above-described embodiment applicable to the present invention will be described.

In the above embodiment, the destination consists of a mailing list name followed by a comment.
As shown in (1), the importance is associated with the address. However, the format of the destination is not limited to this, as long as the correspondence between the importance and the address is clarified in the annotation. It is also possible to use a wild card when associating an address with an importance.

In the above embodiment, the mail server program 45 includes the mail receiving unit 41 and the destination analyzing unit 42
And all the functions of the mail transmission unit 44. On the other hand, only the function of the destination analysis unit 42 is created as one program, and the destination analysis unit 42
May use the functions of a mail receiving unit and a mail transmitting unit included in a mail server program used conventionally. In this case, the interface between the mail receiving unit and the mail transmitting unit may be converted in accordance with the destination analyzing unit 42.

In the above embodiment, the mail input terminal 1
And the mail server machine 4 are constituted by separate information processing devices, and are connected to the mail server machine 4 via the mail transfer systems 2 and 3 or directly. However, the function of the mail input terminal 1 and the function of the mail server machine 4 may be housed in the same information processing apparatus and operate as a client process and a server process, respectively. Further, the same function as the destination / mail document input unit 11 may be provided without providing the mail receiving unit 41 in the mail server program 45.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied in a closed network environment such as an in-house LAN is assumed. However, the present invention can be applied in an open network environment such as the Internet.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When sending an e-mail using a mailing list, members (addresses) included in the mailing list
It is possible to send e-mails with different degrees of importance every time. In addition, there is no need to modify the traditional international rules for e-mail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a format of a destination input from a destination / mail document input unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by a destination analyzing unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of a process in step S6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of a mailing list in the mailing list information file of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of a destination input from the destination / mail document input unit 11 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an e-mail created by the destination analysis unit in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example of a thing with high importance.

FIG. 8 shows an e-mail created by the destination analysis unit in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example of the thing of normal importance.

FIG. 9 is an e-mail created by the destination analysis unit in FIG.
It is a figure showing an example of a thing with low importance.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 mail input terminal 2, 3 mail transfer system 4 mail server machine 5 storage medium 6 network 11 destination / mail document input unit 12 mail transmission unit 41 mail reception unit 42 destination analysis unit 43 mailing list information file 44 mail transmission unit 45 mail server program

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mailing list storage means for storing a mailing list name and an address contained therein in association with each other, and specifying a mailing list name stored in the mailing list storage means and assigning an address in the specified mailing list name to importance. Destination / mail document input means for inputting a destination described as a comment in association with a destination, and a mail document associated with the destination; and adding the destination annotation to the mail document input from the destination / mail document input means. Analyzing the mailing list name and the annotation included in the destination while referring to the mailing means with importance, each of which assigns the importance described in the mail, and creating the e-mail according to the importance; and the mailing list storage means. The electronic mail for each importance created by the importance mail creating means. Mail creation device with severity, characterized in that it comprises a Severity address setting means for setting an address as the destination for each. 2. The destination / mail document input means may write a part of an address as an annotation in association with importance, and the importance-based address setting means may input the address / mail document input means from the destination / mail document input means. Setting the address stored in the mailing list storage means in association with the mailing list name, the address including a part of the address included in the received comment as an address to which an email of the corresponding importance is sent. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. A mailing list name judging unit for judging whether a mailing list name in an address inputted from the address / mail document input unit is stored in the mailing list storage unit, and the mailing list name judging unit comprises: 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first error notifying unit for notifying a predetermined error when it is determined that the name is not stored. 4. The mailing list storage means stores the address contained in the comment in the destination input from the destination / mail document input means in correspondence with the input mailing list name. Address determination means for determining whether or not the address is stored, and second error notification means for performing a predetermined error notification when the address determination means determines that the address is not stored. The mailing apparatus with importance according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. A destination / mail document input for designating a mailing list name and inputting a destination in which an address in the specified mailing list name is associated with importance and described as a comment, and a mail document associated with the destination. An email creation step for creating emails of different degrees of importance, wherein the email document input in the destination / mail document input step is given the importance described in the annotation of the destination. Analyzing the mailing list name and the annotation included in the destination while referring to the address stored in advance in association with the specified mailing list name, An address setting step for setting a destination address for each of the e-mails. With severity mail creation method according to claim. 6. A destination / mail document input for designating a mailing list name and inputting a destination in which an address in the specified mailing list name is described as a comment in association with importance and a mail document associated with the destination. An email creation step for creating emails of different degrees of importance, wherein the email document input in the destination / mail document input step is given the importance described in the annotation of the destination. Analyzing the mailing list name and the annotation included in the destination while referring to the address stored in advance in association with the specified mailing list name, Setting a destination address for each of the e-mails. A computer-readable recording medium characterized by recording a program for.