JPH11149434A - Electronic mail device, electronic mail arrival reporting method and computer readable storage medium recording electronic mail program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a function with which the arrival of electronic mail can be recognized and the transmitter of mail can be immediately identified without watching display on a display device. SOLUTION: An alarm tone is designated for each registered mail address previously stored in a RAM 61. Once the arrival of new mail from an electronic mail server 11A has been detected, a CPU 51 identifies the mail address of the transmitter of that mail and reports the arrival of the mail by sounding and outputting the alarm tone, which is designated to the registered mail address, through a sounding device 43. Even without especially designating the alarm tone to the registered mail address, the preset alarm tone is sounded and outputted so that only the arrival of mail can be recognized. Even without registering the mail address of the transmitter of the incoming mail, the arrival is reported by sounding and outputting the prescribed alarm tone and the arrical of the mail can be recognized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing electronic mail communication using a programmed computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail (hereinafter, also simply referred to as mail) is rapidly permeating society with the explosive spread of the Internet.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a configuration block of a conventional electronic mail apparatus and an example of the configuration of the entire electronic mail system. The electronic mail system will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The electronic mail apparatuses 1A, 1B, 1C,... Have the same internal configuration and are client computers connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) 5. Email device 1
A will be further described. A UA (User Agent) 2 is an application program for realizing a user interface of mail used on a client side of a computer network, and is a program for sending mail, SMTP.
(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Client 3
And POP (Post O)
ffice Protocol) client 4.

When sending a mail from the electronic mail device 1A, the sender of the mail causes the SMTP client 3 to execute, inputs a mail text, an electronic mail address of the destination of the mail, etc., and gives a mail transmission instruction.
The SMTP client 3 sends the input e-mail
The e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail is added, and the e-mail address is transferred to the e-mail server 11A connected to the LAN 5.

[0005] The electronic mail server 11A is a server computer installed to provide an electronic mail service on the LAN 5. The mail transferred from the electronic mail device 1A is stored in an electronic mail server by an MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) 12, which is a program for delivering the mail, based on the electronic mail address specified as the destination of the mail to be transferred. Mailboxes 14A, 14B, 14C,
, Or other e-mail servers 11B, 11C, 11D via a WAN (Wide Area Network) 15
Is transferred to the server to which the destination mail address belongs.

When receiving an e-mail with the e-mail device 1A, the recipient of the e-mail causes the POP client 4 to be executed and an input requesting the e-mail transmission is made.
The client 4 transfers the mail sending request to the electronic mail server 11A connected to the LAN 5.

[0007] In the e-mail server 11A, in response to a mail transmission request from the e-mail 1A, the POP server 13 which is a program for delivering mail in the LAN 9 stores the mail in the mailboxes 14A, 14B, 14C,. Search for emails that are addressed to
After authentication, mail arriving there is sent to LAN
5 to the electronic mail device 1A.

[0008] The electronic mail device 1A displays the mail transferred from the electronic mail server 11A by using the function of the POP client. UA is being improved to further enhance the convenience of electronic mail. P of such UA
Some OP clients have an incoming call notification function that immediately notifies incoming mail by sound. This function will be described with reference to FIG. First, the mail receiver always runs the POP client 4 on the electronic mail device 1A. The POP client 4 periodically checks the e-mail server 11A for the presence or absence of an incoming mail to the receiver at regular time intervals. Email server 1
When a new mail arrives as a result of the incoming call confirmation transferred from the first mail 1A, the electronic mail device 1A outputs an alarm sound indicating the incoming mail, or displays that there is an incoming mail to send the mail. This function is to notify the incoming call.

In the incoming call notification function, particularly, a function of outputting an alarm sound when a mail arrives allows the user to quickly confirm the arrival of the mail without always watching the display of the electronic mail device. It is very convenient because a quick response is possible.

[0010]

The degree of urgency to deal with the contents of mail can be roughly estimated only by recognizing the sender. However, the conventional mail arrival notification function merely outputs a fixed alarm sound that has been set in advance when the mail arrival is confirmed, and only displays on the display device that the new mail has been received. . Therefore, in order to know the sender of the received mail, it is necessary to visually recognize the list of the received mail on a display device of a computer or the like. Therefore, if an e-mail arrives during another operation, even if it is possible to infer from the sender that the e-mail is not so urgent, interrupt the operation and confirm the sender of the e-mail. I was

An object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail apparatus having a function of not only recognizing the arrival of an e-mail, but also immediately identifying the source of the e-mail, without performing display on a display device. That is.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail address storing means for storing a plurality of electronic mail addresses; A notification sound specifying means for specifying a notification sound for each of the plurality of e-mail addresses stored in the e-mail address storage means, an e-mail receiving means for receiving the e-mail, and when the e-mail receiving means receives the e-mail And a notification sound output means for outputting a notification sound specified by the notification sound specification means corresponding to the electronic mail address of the sender of the received electronic mail. With this configuration, when an e-mail is newly received, a different notification sound is output depending on the sender of the e-mail. Therefore, just by listening to the notification sound, the sender of the received e-mail can be identified by the e-mail. Can be recognized together with the incoming call recognition.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the notification sound designating means includes a plurality of electronic mail addresses stored in the electronic mail address storing means. It is characterized in that data of the notification sound specified for each is stored. With this configuration, the operation of designating the notification sound to each e-mail address only needs to be performed once, and the trouble of repeating the same operation every time the e-mail device is started can be eliminated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the notification sound output means is configured such that the electronic mail receiving means is specified by the notification sound specification means. When an e-mail from a sender who has no e-mail address is received, a notification sound specified in advance is output. With this configuration, even if the e-mail is from an e-mail address of an e-mail address for which the notification sound was not specified due to carelessness or the like, the notification sound is reliably output, and the recognition of the mail arrival by the sound can be performed. It is possible, and even if it is an e-mail from a sender who is an e-mail address that is not stored, the incoming mail can be recognized by sound.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the number of received e-mails for counting the number of received e-mails having the same e-mail address as a sender is provided. Means, and the notification sound designating means includes, for each of the e-mail addresses stored in the e-mail address storage means, an e-mail having the e-mail address counted by the e-mail number counting means as a sender. It is characterized in that a notification sound corresponding to the number of receptions is specified. With this configuration, an incoming mail from a sender with a large number of incoming mail that is expected to be a highly important mail content without selecting a notification sound for each registered e-mail address by the user of the apparatus. Can be recognized.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the notification sound designation means can designate no output of the notification sound. It is characterized by. With this configuration, the output of the notification sound can be stopped when a mail arrives from a sender whose mail content is of low importance and it is not necessary to immediately recognize the mail arrival.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail address storing procedure for storing a plurality of electronic mail addresses, and a plurality of electronic mail addresses stored in the electronic mail address storing procedure. A notification sound designation procedure for designating a notification sound, an e-mail reception procedure for receiving an e-mail, and when an e-mail is received by the e-mail reception procedure, an e-mail address of a sender of the received e-mail is received. A notification sound output procedure for outputting a notification sound specified in the corresponding notification sound specification procedure. According to the present invention, the same operation as that of the first aspect can be obtained by a computer.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium storing a program which is read by a computer when the program is used, wherein the electronic mail stores a plurality of e-mail addresses. An address storage procedure, a notification sound designation procedure for designating a notification sound for each of a plurality of email addresses stored in the email address storage procedure, an email reception procedure for receiving an email, and the email reception procedure. And causing the computer to execute a notification sound output step of outputting the notification sound specified by the notification sound specification procedure corresponding to the electronic mail address of the sender of the received electronic mail when the electronic mail is received. It is a computer-readable recording medium on which an e-mail program is recorded. In this configuration, by loading the program stored in the recording medium into the main memory of the computer and executing the program, the computer can obtain the same operation as the first aspect of the present invention.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, when an e-mail is received from an e-mail device whose e-mail address is a registered e-mail address, an alarm sound is output by outputting alarm data corresponding to the registered e-mail address. To notify you of incoming mail. This is a major feature of the present invention.
The user of the electronic mail apparatus can recognize the sender of the received electronic mail together with the incoming mail simply by listening to the alarm sound without seeing any display. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an electronic mail device of the present invention. In the figure, the e-mail device 21 includes an input unit 22, an output unit 23, a main control unit 24, a storage unit 25, and a communication control unit 26.

The input unit 22 is for acquiring an input from the operator of the electronic mail device 21, and is composed of an input device such as a mouse 31 and a keyboard 32, and an input control unit 23 for controlling these devices. It is also possible to use a so-called pointing device such as a trackball instead of the mouse 31, and it is also possible to use a touch panel or the like instead of the keyboard 32.

The output unit 23 presents an output to the operator of the electronic mail device 21 and performs a CR for displaying a screen.
A display device 42 such as a T (cathode ray tube) or a liquid crystal display, a sound source device 43 including a sound source circuit for generating and outputting a corresponding sound by providing musical sound data and a speaker, and an output control unit 41 for controlling these. Constitute. Note that software for processing the sound generation function of the sound source circuit of the sound generator 43 by the CPU 51 has been put to practical use. If this software is used, the sound source circuit may be replaced with only a circuit for driving a speaker. Can also.

The main control unit 24 controls the whole of the electronic mail device 21 and has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 5.
It is composed of 1. The storage unit 25 is used for storing a processing program executed by the CPU 51, data necessary for processing, and the like, and storing an e-mail address, a mail body, sound source data, and the like, which will be described later. The storage unit 25 is a RAM for storing data
61 and a ROM 62 for storing programs.
Depending on the program to be processed, RAM 61
It is also used as a work area for the processing executed in U51.

The communication control unit 26 communicates with the electronic mail device 21
It interfaces with the AN 5 and enables communication with other devices connected to the LAN 5. LAN 5 and e-mail servers 11A, 11B, 11 in FIG.
C, 11D, and WAN 15 are the same as those in the related art described with reference to FIG. In the embodiment of the electronic mail device shown in FIG. 1, the received mail display function, the received mail opening function,
A mail transmission / reception function including functions according to the present invention, such as a mail creation function, an address list display function, an address input processing function, an incoming notification sound output function, and an incoming mail detection function, is described in a processing program executable by the CPU 51. This is realized by storing them in the ROM 62 and reading and executing these programs by the CPU 51. Next, this program will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an overall operation flowchart of a processing program for realizing the e-mail function executed by the CPU 51 stored in the ROM 62. This flowchart is a process for receiving an execution request for a received mail display process described later.

First, in step 101, it is determined whether or not a mail mode flag (hereinafter abbreviated as MMF) stored in a register in the CPU 51 or the RAM 61 is 1, and if MMF is 1, the process proceeds to step 102. On the other hand, if MMF is not 1, the routine proceeds to step 103. MM
F is set to MMF = 1 in step 106 to be described later when the operator of the electronic mail device 21 inputs an instruction to execute the received mail display process to the input unit 22.

In step 102, a received mail display process is executed, and the flow advances to step 104. In the received mail display processing, a list of received e-mails is displayed, and it is possible to instruct an execution request of each processing of opening a mail, creating a mail, and inputting a mail address.

In step 103, the e-mail device 21 does not perform the received mail display process. If the e-mail device 21 has another function not related to the e-mail, the function is executed. move on.

In step 104, it is checked whether there is a click input of the 31 mouse of the input unit or an input of the keyboard 32, and if there is an input, the process proceeds to step 105. If there is no input, the process proceeds to step 101. Return and repeat the above process.

In step 105, it is checked whether or not the input detected in step 104 indicates a request for executing the received mail display process. If the input indicates a request for executing the received mail display process, the process proceeds to step 106. on the other hand,
If it does not indicate an execution request, the process returns to step 101 to repeat the above-described processing.

In step 106, the MMF is set to 1 to indicate that the operator has made a request to execute the received mail display process, and the process returns to step 101 to repeat the above-described process. Next, FIG. 3 will be described. The figure shows RAM6
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of data relating to the e-mail function stored in the storage device 1;

In FIG. 3A, a mail creation area is an area for creating and storing an outgoing mail. As shown in FIG. 3B, the mail creation area includes a destination address area for storing a mail address which is a destination of the created mail, a sender address area for storing the mail address of the sender of the mail, and a title of the mail. It can be subdivided into a title area to store and a body area to store the mail body.

The address area in FIG. 3A is an area for storing a registered mail address. Looking at the address area in detail, in the example of FIG.
N mail address data from to the address (N) have already been registered. Each mail address data includes a name (Name), a mail address, and an alarm selection number, as shown in FIG. The alarm selection number indicates one of the registered alarm data described later.
When a mail whose registered mail address is the sender arrives, an alarm sound is output based on the registered alarm data indicated by the alarm selection number.

The received mail store area shown in FIG. 3A is an area for storing received electronic mail. FIG.
Shows an example in which M mails from MAIL (1) to MAIL (M) are stored in this area. As shown in FIG. 3C, each received mail includes the mail address, title, mail text, TIME,
It has KAIFUF. Among them, TIME is data indicating the arrival time of a mail (including the date). KAIFUF is a flag indicating that the received mail has been opened. When the mail is not opened, KAIFUF is set to 0, but when the mail is opened, KAIFUF is set to 1.

The alarm data shown in FIG. 3A stores tone data of an alarm sound output to notify the incoming of a mail when the incoming mail is received. In the figure, four types of alarm data are stored, but the number of data need not be limited to four. Each data is numbered, and shows the correspondence of the mail address data with the alarm. Here, alarm (0) contains tone data to be output when a mail from a sender whose address is not registered in the address area is received, and alarm (1) contains the address name in the address area. Although there is a registration,
The tone data to be output when no special alarm sound selection is set is stored. Next, the received mail display process in step 102 of the overall operation flowchart (FIG. 2) will be described.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts of the received mail display processing. In addition, the display device 42
6 is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 111 in FIG. 4, the current display screen is cleared, and the function is selected by mouse clicks such as the frame of the list in FIG. Perform drawing such as display.

Steps 112 to 118 correspond to FIG.
Is a process for displaying the mail list shown in FIG. Step 11
In step 2, 1 is assigned to a variable n.

At step 113, referring to MAIL (n) in the received mail store area shown in FIG.
(N) (Email arrival time) is displayed in one column of the list. Here, the sender address of the mail is shown in FIG.
When the address is stored in the address area, the corresponding name may be read from the address area instead of the address and displayed, and the display in FIG. 6 is obtained by performing this processing.

In step 114, the received mail opening flag KAIFUF (n) is compared with 0, and KAIFUF (n) is compared.
If (n) indicates 0, that is, indicates that the document has not been opened, step 1 is executed.
Going to step 15, a double circle mark indicating unopened is displayed at the left end of the line of the received mail list display in FIG.
Proceed to 16. On the other hand, if KAIFUF (n) is 1, that is, it indicates that the package has been opened, step 1 is performed without displaying a new message.
Proceed to 16.

In step 116, the variable n is advanced by one. In step 117, it is checked whether or not the contents of MAIL (n) corresponding to the variable n changed in step 116 exist in the received mail area shown in FIG.
If the contents of L (n) are empty data due to a mail deletion operation or the like described later, the process returns to step 116 to repeat the processing. On the other hand, when the contents of MAIL (n) exist, the process proceeds to step 118.

In step 118, it is determined whether or not the number of displayed mails in the mail list has exceeded the number of mails that can be displayed on one screen. If display is still possible, the process returns to step 113 to repeat the subsequent processing. On the other hand, if new display is impossible, the process proceeds to step 119.

Steps 119 to 128 are processes for changing the display screen according to the operation of the mouse 31 and selecting each function. First, step 119
Substitutes 1 for variable A, and sets MAIL in step 120
(A) (that is, MAIL (1)) performs a so-called inverted display of inverting the color between the character display color and the background color of the table. In FIG. 6, the lines are indicated by oblique lines instead of the reverse display.

In step 121, a mouse cursor is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen. At step 122, it is checked whether or not the mouse 31 has moved. If the mouse movement has been detected, at step 123 the mouse cursor is moved so as to correspond to the moving direction and the moving distance of the mouse, and the routine proceeds to step. On the other hand, if the movement of the mouse 31 is not detected, the process directly proceeds to step 124 without doing anything.

In step 124, it is determined whether or not a click operation has been performed on the mouse 31. If a click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 125. If no click operation has been performed, the process returns to step 122. Monitor the situation repeatedly.

In step 125, the position of the mouse cursor on the display screen when the mouse 31 is clicked is checked. If the mouse cursor is positioned in the mail list, the flow advances to step 126. If the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process proceeds to step 129 (FIG. 5).

In step 126, the number of the mail corresponding to the display line where the mouse cursor is located is obtained and its value is substituted for variable A. In step 127, the display of MAIL (A) corresponding to variable A Highlight the line text and background color.

In step 128, the reversed display other than that processed in step 127 is returned to the normal display.
The process returns to step S22 to repeat the above-described processing. Referring to FIG. 5, the processes in steps 129 to 134 are processes for selecting and executing another function related to the e-mail.

In step 129, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "open" display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. After executing the mail opening process, the process returns to step 111 (FIG. 4). On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, step 13
Proceed to 1. Details of the received mail opening process will be described later.

In step 131, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "mail creation" display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. After executing the mail creation process, the process returns to step 111 (FIG. 4). On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 133. Details of the mail creation process will be described later.

In step 133, the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when a click operation is performed on the mouse 31 is set to the "address input" at the top of the display screen of FIG.
If so, the process returns to step 111 (FIG. 4) after executing the mail creation process of step 134. on the other hand,
If the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 135. The details of the address input process will also be described later.

The processing from step 135 to step 138 is processing for deleting the stored received mail. In step 135, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the click operation is performed on the mouse 31 is in the “delete” display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. 6, the process proceeds to step 136. If the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 139.

In step 136, MAIL displayed in reverse video by the processing of step 127 (FIG. 4)
The contents of (A) (sender address, title, text, and TIME (A) shown in FIG. 3C) are deleted from the display screen list and the RAM 61, and the received mail open flag KAIFUF (A) is set at step 137. Set to 0 (unopened).

At step 138, MAIL is entered in the list.
The line displaying (A) is displayed in step 136.
, The line display below the empty line is shifted upward by one line to delete the empty line, and the mail is stored in the RAM 61 shown in FIG. 3B. For the contents, a process of reducing the number after the deleted MAIL (A) by 1 is performed, and the process returns to step 111 (FIG. 4).

Steps 139 to 141 are processing for terminating the reception display processing. In step 139,
If the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when a click operation is applied to the mouse 31 is in the “end” display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. 6, the process proceeds to step 140, while the mouse cursor is If it is at another position, the process returns to step 122 (FIG. 4) to repeatedly monitor the operation of the mouse.

In step 140, all the screens of the reception display processing are erased. In step 141, the mail mode flag MMF described in the flowchart of the whole operation is set to 0, and the reception display processing ends. Next, the received mail opening processing of step 130 (FIG. 5) in the flowchart of the received mail display processing will be described. The received mail opening process is a process of displaying the text of the received mail on the display device 42, and has a function of deleting the displayed mail when it is no longer necessary to save the mail. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the received mail opening process, and FIG. 8 shows a screen displayed on the display device 42 by the received mail opening process. The flowchart of FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIG.

Steps 151 to 156 are processing for displaying the opening screen and operating the opening flag. First, in step 151, the current display screen is cleared once, the display frame of the opening screen shown in FIG.
Characters such as m, Title, end, and delete are displayed.

In steps 152, 153 and 154, M
The address, title, and body of the sender of the mail included in the data of AIL (A) are respectively described in the From column of FIG.
It is displayed in the Title column and the text display column. Here, when the sender address of the mail is stored in the address area of FIG. 3A, the corresponding name may be read from the address area instead of the address and displayed. The display shows the result of this processing.

At step 155, the opening flag KAIF
1 is substituted for UF (A), and MAIL (A) indicates that display has been performed on the opening screen at least once. Steps 156 to 164 are performed by operating the mouse 31 to select the deletion of the display mail or the end of the opening processing.

At step 156, a mouse cursor is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen. In step 157, it is checked whether or not the mouse 31 has moved. If the mouse movement has been detected, in step 158, the moving direction of the mouse 31
The mouse cursor is moved so as to correspond to the movement distance, and the process proceeds to step 159. On the other hand, if the movement of the mouse 31 is not detected, the process directly proceeds to step 159 without doing anything.

In step 159, it is determined whether or not a click operation has been performed on the mouse 31. If a click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 160. If no click operation has been performed, the process returns to step 157. Repeat monitoring.

At step 160, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the “end” display portion at the upper right of the display screen of FIG. If the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process proceeds to step 16.
Proceed to 1.

At step 161, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the “delete” display portion at the upper right of the display screen of FIG. If the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 15.
7 and the monitoring of the operation status of the mouse 31 is repeated.

In steps 162 and 163, MAIL
The contents of (A) (sender address, title, body, and TIME (A) shown in FIG. 3C) are deleted from the RAM 61, and the contents of the mail stored in the RAM 61 shown in FIG. 3B are deleted. A process is performed to reduce the numbers after MAIL (A) by one.

In step 164, the entire screen of the opening process is deleted, the opening process is completed, and the process returns to the received mail display process. Next, the mail creation processing of step 132 (FIG. 5) in the flowchart of the received mail display processing will be described. The mail creation process is a function that composes mail,
The function of transmitting a mail to the electronic mail server 11A connected to the LAN 5 is realized. 9 and 1
0 is a flowchart of the mail creation process, and FIG.
9 shows a screen displayed on the display device 42 by the mail creation process. 9 and 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 171, the contents of the mail creation area of the RAM 61 shown in FIG. Steps 172 to 174 are processing for displaying the screen of FIG. First, in step 172, the current display screen is temporarily cleared, and the drawing of the display frame of the mail creation screen shown in FIG.
Characters such as o, Title, address list, transmission, and end are displayed, and the contents of the mail creation area of the RAM 61 shown in FIG. 3A are displayed in the corresponding columns. Is displayed in the address input area (To column in FIG. 11).

Steps 174 to 192 are performed by operating the mouse 31 to select creation of an e-mail, display of an address list, transmission of an e-mail, or termination of the e-mail creation processing.

At step 174, a mouse cursor is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen. At step 175, it is checked whether or not the mouse 31 has moved. If the mouse movement has been detected, at step 176, the moving direction of the mouse 31
The mouse cursor is moved so as to correspond to the movement distance, and the process proceeds to step 177. On the other hand, if the movement of the mouse 31 is not detected, the process directly proceeds to the step 177 without doing anything.

In step 177, it is determined whether or not a click operation has been performed on the mouse 31. If a click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 178. If no click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 193 (FIG. 10).

In step 178, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the address input area (To column in FIG. 11) in the display screen of FIG. Proceed to
Move the character cursor to the address input area and proceed to step 180. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 180 without doing anything.

In step 180, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the title input area (Title column in FIG. 11) on the display screen in FIG. To move the character cursor to the title input area, and then to step 182. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process goes to step 18 without any operation.
Proceed to 2.

In step 182, the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is set to the text input area (FIG. 1) in the display screen of FIG.
1 (lower center column), go to step 183,
Move the character cursor to the title input area and proceed to step 184. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 184 without doing anything.

In step 184, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "address list" display portion at the upper right of the display screen of FIG. After executing the address list display process, the process returns to step 172, and the processes after the drawing of the mail creation screen in FIG. 11 are repeated. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 186 without doing anything. The details of the address list display processing will be described later.

In step 186, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the click operation is performed on the mouse 31 is in the "transmission" display portion in the upper right part of the display screen of FIG. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 190 without doing anything.

In step 187, the mail address of the mail creator is stored in the sender address area in the mail creation area of FIG. 3B. This address may store an input from the keyboard 32, or may copy an address previously stored in another area of the RAM 61 (not shown in FIG. 3) into the sender address area. Good.

In step 188, the data in the mail creation area is transmitted from the communication control unit 26 to the electronic mail server 11A via the LAN 5. In step 189, the progress of the transmission process in step 188 is checked, and if the transmission process is completed, the process proceeds to step 192.

In step 190, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "cancel" display portion in the upper right part of the display screen of FIG. 11, the process proceeds to step 191. , Clear the mail creation area and proceed to step 192,
If the mouse cursor is located at another position, it is determined that the current mouse click detected in step 177 is meaningless, and the process returns to step 175 to monitor the operation of the mouse 31 repeatedly.

In step 192, all the screens of the mail creation processing are deleted, the mail creation processing ends, and the flow returns to the received mail display processing. Referring to FIG. 10, the processing from step 193 to step 205 is processing for creating an e-mail based on input from the keyboard 32. In step 193, the input to the keyboard 32 is detected. If there is an input, the process proceeds to step 194. If the input is not detected, the process returns to step 175 (FIG. 9), and the monitoring of the operation of the mouse 31 is repeated.

In step 194, the position of the display screen of the character cursor when an input operation is applied to the keyboard 32 is changed to the address input area (FIG. 1) in the display screen of FIG.
(To column 1), the process proceeds to step 195 to display the character corresponding to the input from the keyboard 32 in the address input area, and to step 196 to proceed to the destination address area in the mail creation area in FIG. Is stored, and the character cursor is moved in step 197 by the number of input characters detected, and the
Return to (FIG. 9). On the other hand, if the character cursor is at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 198 without doing anything.

In step 198, the position of the display screen of the character cursor when the input operation is applied to the keyboard 32 is changed to the title input area (FIG. 1) in the display screen of FIG.
1 (Title column), go to step 199,
The characters corresponding to the input of the keyboard 32 are displayed in the title input area, and the process proceeds to step 200 to proceed to FIG.
The data corresponding to the title area in the mail creation area of (b) is stored, and the character cursor is moved by the number of input characters detected in step 201, and step 17 is executed.
5 (FIG. 9). On the other hand, if the character cursor is at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 202 without doing anything.

In step 202, if the position of the display screen of the character cursor when the input operation is applied to the keyboard 32 is in the text input area (the lower center column in FIG. 11) on the display screen of FIG. In step 203, the character corresponding to the input from the keyboard 32 is displayed in the text input area, and in step 204, the data corresponding to the text area in the mail creation area shown in FIG. Then, the character cursor is moved by the number of detected input characters, and the process returns to step 175 (FIG. 9). On the other hand, if the character cursor is at another position,
It is determined that the current keyboard input detected in step 193 is meaningless, and the process returns to step 175 (FIG. 9). Next, the address list display processing in step 185 (FIG. 9) of the mail creation processing will be described. The address list display processing is to display a list of registered e-mail addresses stored in the address area shown in FIG. 3 (a) and select the destination of the created e-mail from this list, and FIG. 3 (b) This is a function for storing a mail address in the destination address area in the mail creation area, and reducing the complexity of inputting an address from the keyboard 32. FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the received mail opening process.
FIG. 13 shows the display device 4 by opening the received mail.
2 shows a screen displayed. The flowchart of FIG. 12 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 211, the current display screen is cleared, and a drawing such as a display for selecting a function by a mouse click such as a new entry, a deletion, an OK, and an end at the top of the screen of the list in FIG. Do.

Steps 212 to 215 correspond to FIG.
This is a process for displaying the address list shown in FIG. In step 212, 1 is substituted for a variable m.

At step 213, referring to the address (m) in the address area shown in FIG. 3, the corresponding name and mail address are displayed in one line of the list. In step 214, the variable m is advanced by one.

At step 215, it is checked whether or not the number of display addresses in the address list has exceeded the number of addresses that can be displayed on one screen.
Return to and repeat the subsequent processing. On the other hand, if a new display is not possible, the process proceeds to step 216.

In steps 216 to 235, the operation of the mouse 31 is used to select a mail destination from the mail addresses in the list, register and input a new mail address, confirm and delete the mail address, or register the registered mail address. The user is allowed to select each function such as a detailed display of the information to be processed.

In step 216, a mouse cursor is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen. In step 217, it is checked whether or not the mouse 31 has moved. If the mouse movement has been detected, the mouse cursor is moved in step 218 so as to correspond to the moving direction and moving distance of the mouse, and the flow advances to step 219. On the other hand, if the movement of the mouse 31 is not detected, the process directly proceeds to the step 219 without doing anything.

At step 219, it is checked whether or not a click operation has been performed on the mouse 31. If a click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 220. If no click operation has been performed, the process returns to step 217. Repeat monitoring.

At step 220, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is on the address list on the display screen of FIG. 13, the process proceeds to step 221. If the cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 224.

In step 221, the number of the mail address corresponding to the display line where the mouse cursor is located is obtained, and its value is substituted for variable A. In step 222,
The characters on the display line of the address (A) corresponding to the variable A and the background color are highlighted. In FIG. 13, the lines are indicated by oblique lines instead of the reverse display.

In step 223, the reversed display other than that processed in step 222 is returned to the normal display.
Returning to step 17, the monitoring of the operation of the mouse 31 is repeated. In step 224, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the click operation is performed on the mouse 31 is in the "new input" display portion at the upper left of the display screen in FIG. 13, the process proceeds to step 225. After executing the address list input process, the process returns to step 211, and the processes after the drawing of the address list display screen in FIG. 13 are repeated. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process proceeds to step 226 without doing anything. Details of the address list input processing will be described later.

In step 226, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "end" display portion at the upper right of the display screen in FIG. Then, the screen for displaying the address list is entirely erased, the address list display processing is ended, and the processing returns to the mail creation processing. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 228.

At step 228, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "delete" display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. 13, the process proceeds to step 229. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, the process proceeds to step 231.

In step 229, the contents (name (Name), mail address, and alarm selection number shown in FIG. 3C) of the address (A) which has been highlighted by the processing in step 222 are displayed on a list on the display screen. RAM
Delete from 61.

In step 230, since the line for which the address (A) was displayed in the mail address list has become blank due to the processing in step 229, the display of lines below this blank line is shifted up by one line. 3B, the contents of the mail address stored in the RAM 61 shown in FIG. 3B are reduced by one at a time after the deleted address (A), and the process returns to step 217 to return to the mouse 31. Repeat the operation monitoring.

In step 231, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the “OK” display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. 13, the process proceeds to step 232. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 234.

In step 232, the mail address of the address (A) is stored in the destination address area in the mail creation area of FIG. 3B, and the flow advances to step 233 to delete all the screens of the address list display. The list display process ends, and the process returns to the mail creation process.

In step 234, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "detailed display" display portion at the top of the display screen of FIG. The process returns to step 211 after executing the detail display process, and repeats the processes after the drawing of the address list display screen in FIG. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, it is determined that the current mouse click operation detected in step 219 is meaningless, and the process returns to step 217 to monitor the operation of the mouse 31 repeatedly. The detailed display processing will be described later. Next, step 134 of the received mail display process
(FIG. 5) and step 22 of the address list display processing
5 (FIG. 12) will be described. The address input process is a process of newly registering and storing mail address data in the address area shown in FIG. 14 and 15 show a flowchart of the address input processing, and FIG. 16 shows a screen displayed on the display device 42 by the address input processing. 14 and 15
Will be described with reference to FIG.

Steps 241 to 245 perform processing for detecting whether or not an area for registering new mail address data exists in the address area of the RAM 61 shown in FIG. 3A.

First, at step 241, 1 is substituted for a variable m. In step 242, the contents of the address (m) in the address area shown in FIG. 3 are referred to. If there is data, the process proceeds to step 243. On the other hand, if there is no data, the process proceeds to step 246.

In step 243, the variable m is advanced by one. In step 244, it is determined whether or not the value of m has exceeded the number of mail address data that can be stored in the address area of the RAM 61 shown in FIG. 3A, and if not, the flow returns to step 242 to return to the address 242. The process of searching for an empty area in the area is repeated. On the other hand, if it has already exceeded, the process proceeds to step 245.

In step 245, a warning display indicating that new mail address data cannot be stored in the address area is displayed on the display device 42 for a certain period of time.
Thereafter, the address input processing is terminated, and the process returns to the received mail display processing or the address list display processing. The display time is arbitrary, but long enough to call attention.

In step 246, the alarm selection number of the address (m) is set to 1. By doing so, the alarm selection number of each mail address data is always 1 unless the alarm selection number is changed later.

In step 247, the current display screen is cleared, and the drawing of the frame of each column in FIG.
Display of characters such as "ress" and "Alarm" and display for selecting a function by mouse click such as "OK" and "End" at the bottom of the screen are performed.

Steps 248 to 273 (FIG. 1)
5) is operated by operating the mouse 31 and the keyboard 32.
This is for inputting and registering mail address data.

At step 248, a mouse cursor is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen, and at step 249, a character cursor indicating the character input position is displayed in the name input area (Name column in FIG. 16).

At step 250, it is checked whether or not the mouse 31 has moved. If the mouse movement is detected, at step 251 the mouse cursor is moved so as to correspond to the moving direction and the moving distance of the mouse. Proceed to 252. On the other hand, if the movement of the mouse 31 is not detected, the process directly proceeds to step 252 without doing anything.

In step 252, it is determined whether or not a click operation has been performed on the mouse 31. If a click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 253. If no click operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step 263 (FIG. 15).

In step 253, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the "OK" display portion at the bottom of the display screen of FIG. 16, the flow proceeds to step 254. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, the process proceeds to step 255.

In step 254, all the screens for the address input processing are deleted, the address input processing is terminated, and the flow returns to the received mail display processing or the address list display processing. In step 255, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the click operation is performed on the mouse 31 is in the "cancel" display portion at the bottom of the display screen of FIG. 16, the process proceeds to step 256, and the address (m ) Is cleared and the routine proceeds to step 254. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, step 2
Go to 57 (FIG. 15).

Referring to FIG. 15, in step 257, the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is displayed in the name input area (Name column in FIG. 16) in the display screen of FIG. If so, step 2
Go to 58, move the character cursor to the name input area,
Returning to step 250 (FIG. 14), the processing after monitoring the mouse operation is repeated. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, do nothing and go directly to step 2.
Go to 59.

In step 259, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the address input area (Address column in FIG. 16) in the display screen of FIG.
Move the character cursor to the address input area,
Returning to step 250 (FIG. 14), the processing after monitoring the mouse operation is repeated. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is located at another position, do nothing and go directly to step 2.
Go to 61.

In step 261, if the position of the display screen of the mouse cursor when the mouse 31 is clicked is in the alarm selection number input area (Alarm column in FIG. 16) on the display screen in FIG. Step 2
In step 62, the character cursor is moved to the alarm selection number input area, and the process returns to step 250 (FIG. 14) to repeat the processing after monitoring the mouse operation. On the other hand, if the mouse cursor is at another position, step 252
It is determined that the current mouse click detected in (FIG. 14) is meaningless, and the process returns to step 250 (FIG. 14) without doing anything, and the monitoring process of the operation of the mouse 31 is repeated.

At step 263, an input to the keyboard 32 is detected. If there is an input, the process proceeds to step 264. If no input is detected, the process returns to step 250 (FIG. 14) to repeat the monitoring process of the operation of the mouse 31. .

In step 264, if the position of the display screen of the character cursor when the input operation is applied to the keyboard 32 is in the name input area (Name column in FIG. 16) in the display screen of FIG. 16, the process proceeds to step 265. The character corresponding to the input from the keyboard 32 is displayed in the address input area, and the process proceeds to step 266 to store the data in the name (Name) area of the address (m) in the address area of FIG. Proceed to 273. On the other hand, if the character cursor is at another position, the process directly proceeds to step 267 without doing anything.

In step 267, the position of the display screen of the character cursor when the input operation is applied to the keyboard 32 is changed to the address input area (FIG. 1) in the display screen of FIG.
If the address is in the address column of FIG. 6), the flow advances to step 268 to display the character corresponding to the input from the keyboard 32 in the address input area, and the flow advances to step 269 to read the address (m) in the address area of FIG. Is stored in the e-mail address area, and the flow advances to step 273. On the other hand, if the character cursor is at another position,
The process directly proceeds to step 270 without doing anything.

In step 270, if the position of the display screen of the character cursor when the input operation is applied to the keyboard 32 is in the alarm selection number input area (Alarm column in FIG. 16) on the display screen in FIG. 271
To display the number corresponding to the input of the keyboard 32 in the input area, and to step 272 to proceed to FIG.
The data is stored in the alarm selection number area of the address (m) in the address area of (a), and the process proceeds to step 273. On the other hand, if the character cursor is at another position,
On the other hand, if the character cursor is located at another position, it is determined that the current keyboard input detected in step 263 is meaningless, and the process returns to step 250 (FIG. 14).

In step 273, the character cursor is moved by the number of detected input characters, and step 250 (FIG. 14)
Return to Next, step 235 of the address list display processing
The detailed display processing of FIG. 12 will be described. The detailed display process is a display of all registered contents of one of registered mail address data displayed as shown in FIG. 13 by the address list display process, and changes the registered contents as necessary. This is a process for realizing the function. 17 and 18 show flowcharts of the detailed display processing. The display screen by the detailed display process is shown in FIG.
The screen is the same as the screen displayed by the address input process. The flowcharts of FIGS. 17 and 18 will be described.

First, in step 281 of FIG. 17, the same processing as the drawing and display processing performed in step 247 (FIG. 14) of the address input processing is performed. Step 282
Then, the address (A) is entered in each column drawn in step 281.
The contents of each are displayed.

The following steps 283 to 308
The processing up to (FIG. 18) is performed by the mouse 31 and the keyboard 3
The process of inputting and registering the mail address data is performed by the operation of Step 2. The flowchart of this series of processes is shown in Step 248 of the address input process (FIG. 14).
Since this is exactly the same as the flowchart of the processing from step 273 to step 273 (FIG. 15), and the description is repeated, the description is omitted here. Next, an interrupt process performed by the CPU 51 will be described. In the present embodiment, two processes, a mail arrival detection process and a sound source process, are performed at fixed time intervals by a timer interrupt. The timer is realized by a method in which a timer device is provided outside the CPU 51, or a method in which a count program is executed by the CPU 51 and an interrupt process is executed every predetermined number of times. In this embodiment, the two processings realize a major feature of the present invention in that an incoming electronic mail is automatically recognized and an incoming electronic mail is sounded by sounding alarm data corresponding to a registered mail address. Less than,
The incoming mail incoming detection process and the sound source process will be described. First, the incoming mail detection process will be described. In this process, the above-described timer requests the e-mail server 11A to transfer newly arrived mail at regular intervals,
When the mail is transferred from the electronic mail server 11A to the electronic mail device 21, the process of instructing the start of sounding of the notification sound corresponding to the sender of the mail is performed. The shorter the time interval at which a timer interrupt for starting the mail arrival detection process is made, the shorter the time lag until the mail arrival is detected, but there is a problem of increasing the traffic of the LAN 5. .

FIGS. 19 and 20 show flowcharts of the mail arrival detection process. First, referring to FIG. 19, in step 311, a request is made to the electronic mail server 11A to transfer a newly arrived mail.

At step 312, the e-mail server 1
It is checked whether or not the mail has been transferred from 1A. If the mail has been transferred, the process proceeds to step 313. If the mail has not been transferred, it is determined that no new mail has arrived. The incoming call detection processing ends.

The processing in steps 313 to 320 is processing for storing the received mail in the RAM 61. In step 313, 1 is substituted for a variable n.

In step 314, the data contents of MAIL (n) in the received mail store area shown in FIG. 3A are checked, and if the data contents are not clear but exist, the flow advances to step 315. On the other hand, if the data content has been cleared, the process proceeds to step 319.

At step 315, the value of the variable n is advanced by one. In step 316, it is checked whether or not the value of the variable n has exceeded the maximum number of received mails that can be stored in the received mail store area in FIG. 3A. If not, the flow returns to step 314 to check the data content of MAIL (n) again.

In steps 317 to 318,
It is determined that the received mail store area in FIG. 3A is full and there is no area for storing a new mail, and a preparation process for replacing the stored oldest received mail with a new mail is performed. First, in step 317, the incoming time (TIM) in the received mail stored in the same area is determined.
The number of the earliest received mail of E) is checked, and step 31
In step 8, this number is substituted for n, and the flow advances to step 319.

At step 319, the newly received mail is stored in MAIL (n).
Opening flag KAIFUF (n) of (n) is set to 0 (not opened)
Set to.

Steps 321 to 326 check whether or not the sender of the received mail has been registered in the address area of FIG. 3A, and issue a sounding instruction by an alarm sound designated and registered corresponding to the mail address. Things.

In step 321, 1 is substituted for a variable m. In step 322, the mail address of the sender of the new mail MAIL (n) is compared with the mail address of the address (m) registered in the address area of FIG. 3A, and if they match, the process proceeds to step 325. On the other hand, if they do not match, the process proceeds to step 323.

At step 323, the variable m is advanced by one.
In step 324, it is checked whether or not the value of the variable m exceeds the number of address data registered in the address area of FIG. 3A.
Proceeding to step S27 (FIG. 20), if it has not exceeded, the process returns to step 322 to repeat the processing.

In step 325, the alarm selection number of the address (m) registered in the address area of FIG. 3A is transmitted. In step 326, data indicating the start of alarm sound generation is transmitted to a sound source process described later. Each of them is stored in a predetermined area (not shown in FIG. 3) of the RAM 61, and the current mail arrival detection processing ends.

Referring to FIG. 20, the processing of steps 327 to 333 is performed automatically when the mail address of the sender of the received new mail is not registered in the mail address area of FIG. 3A. The mail address of the sender is additionally registered.

At step 327, 1 is substituted for a variable m. In step 328, the data contents of the address (m) in the address area of FIG. 3A are checked. If the contents are not cleared but exist, the process proceeds to step 329, while the contents are cleared. If so, the process proceeds to step 331.

At step 329, the value of the variable m is increased by one. In step 330, it is checked whether or not the value of the variable m has exceeded the maximum number of address data that can be stored in the address area of FIG. 3A. If it has, the automatic new registration of the mail address data is not performed. Proceed to step 333. On the other hand, if not exceeded, step 32
8, the data content of the address (m) is checked again.

In step 331, the address name of the sender of the new mail MAIL (n) is stored in the address storage area of the address (m) in the address area of FIG.

In step 332, data for selecting the alarm (1) is stored in the alarm selection number storage area of the address (m). By the processing in this step, unless the registration number of the alarm selection is changed in the detailed display processing by the above-described detailed display processing, the sender receives the alarm (1) as an incoming notification sound of the mail that is the registered mail address. ) Will be output.

The processing from step 333 to step 334 is to instruct an incoming mail notification from a sender whose address name is not registered in the address area of FIG. 3A.

At step 333, an alarm selection number for selecting the alarm (0), and at step 334, data indicating the start of alarm sound generation are transmitted to a sound source process described later. (The same area as the area used in the storage processing in steps 325 and 326), and the current mail arrival detection processing ends. Next, the sound source processing will be described. This process is a process of controlling the sound generation device 43 to generate an alarm sound in accordance with an instruction to start sounding an alarm from the mail arrival detection process described above. The time interval for generating the timer interrupt for starting the sound source processing does not become an unnatural sound because the sound output control of the alarm sound is not in time and the sound output of the musical sound data of the output alarm sound and the processing capability of the CPU 51 are taken into consideration. That is, the setting is made short so that the processing is completed within the sampling period of the musical sound data.

In step 341, it is checked whether or not an alarm sounding start instruction is stored by referring to the area of the RAM 61 used in the storage processing in step 326 or step 334 of the above-described mail arrival detection processing. The instruction is cleared and the process proceeds to step 342, while if there is no start instruction, the process proceeds to step 345.

The processes from step 342 to step 345 are processes for starting sound output. Step 3
At 42, the start flag STF is set to 1. ST
F is a flag indicating the state of the sound output of the sound generating device 43, where 1 indicates sound generation and 0 indicates sound stop.

In step 343, the first note of the tone data of the alarm corresponding to the stored alarm selection number is referred to by referring to the area of the RAM 61 used in the storage processing of step 325 or step 333 of the above-described mail arrival detection processing. The data is read from the alarm data shown in FIG. 3A, and the sound corresponding to the note data is output to the sound generating device 43 in step 344.

At step 345, start flag ST
Check F, and if STF is 1, proceed to step 346,
On the other hand, if the STF is 0, it is determined that the control of the sound generating device 43 is not necessary this time, and the current sound source processing ends.

The processing from step 346 to step 351 controls the sound generator 43 during sound generation. In step 346, the sounding device 43 checks the elapsed time from the start of the currently sounding sound, and if the sounding time of the note data corresponding to the currently sounding sound of the musical sound data of the alarm being referred to has elapsed. Proceed to step 347,
On the other hand, if the time has not elapsed yet, the current sound source processing is ended without doing anything to continue the sound generation by the sound generation device 43.

In step 347, it is checked whether or not note data following the note data corresponding to the currently sounding tone exists in the musical tone data of the alarm being referred to. If yes, the process proceeds to step 348. On the other hand, if it does not exist, the process proceeds to step 350.

At step 348, note data following the note data corresponding to the currently sounding tone is read out from the musical tone data of the alarm being referred to. At step 349, the tone generator 43 corresponds to the read note data. Start sound output with sound changed to sound.

At step 350, start flag ST
F is set to 0, and in step 351, a mute instruction is issued to the sound generating device 43, and the current sound source processing ends. In the e-mail device described above, the user of the device sets an alarm sound for each mail address of the sender of the incoming mail. However, the alarm selection number is added to the address data in the address area shown in FIG. Instead of storing, an area is provided to store the number of received e-mails with the corresponding address data as the sender, and the value stored in this area every time there is an incoming mail from the sender that is the corresponding e-mail address When the new mail arrives, the number of received e-mails is checked, and the alarm data corresponding to the number of received e-mails is automatically selected. E-mails from senders with a high number of incoming e-mails that are expected to be highly important e-mails without setting the alarm selection It is possible to signal recognition, which is convenient. This automatic alarm selection function can be realized by partially changing the embodiment of the e-mail apparatus described so far. Next, an e-mail device having the alarm automatic selection function will be described.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the contents of data stored in RAM 61 when the automatic alarm selection function is realized. Comparing FIG. 3 with FIG. 3, a conversion table of the number of received data and the alarm selection number is added to FIG. This is a table for selecting which alarm data should be used for sound output when a mail arrives according to the number of received mails. For example, for a mail from a sender whose number of received mails is 1 to 5, The alarm data (1) is used, and the alarm data (2) is used for 6 to 10 mails from the sender, and the alarm is used for the mails from 10 or more senders. Use of data (3) is defined.

In (c), the number of received mails with the corresponding address data as the sender is stored in the area storing the alarm selection number in FIG. 3 in FIG. Since there is no need to set the alarm selection number,
The display shown in FIG. 6 does not require an alarm column, and the processing for inputting and storing an alarm selection number in the flowchart of the address input process in FIG. 15 and the flowchart of the detailed display process in FIG. 18 is also unnecessary.

FIGS. 23 and 24 are flow charts of mail arrival processing when the automatic alarm selection function is realized.
19, the same processing steps as those in FIGS. 19 and 20 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 23 differs from FIG. 19 in that step 325 is changed from step 361 to step 363. In step 322, the address of the sender of the received mail (n) is changed as shown in FIG.
If it is found that the mail is stored in the address area of FIG. 22, in step 361, the number of mails received from the address (m) stored in the address (m) in the address area of FIG. I do. Then, in step 362, the number of the alarm data corresponding to the received number is detected from the received number-alarm selection number conversion table in FIG. 22A, and in step 363, the detected alarm data number is sent to the sound source. .

FIG. 24 differs from FIG. 20 in that step 332 is changed to step 364. In step 364, when the mail address of the sender of the received new mail is not registered in the mail address area of FIG. 22A, the process of automatically registering the mail address of the sender of the new mail is performed. The value "1" indicating that one mail has been received is stored in the area for storing the number.

As described above, the automatic alarm selection function is realized. In the present embodiment, an alarm sound is always output when a new mail arrives, regardless of whether or not address data is registered in the address area in FIG. 3A. ) In the alarm data,
By setting the alarm (0) as silent data, it is possible to prevent the alarm sound from being emitted when a mail from a sender who is an unregistered mail address arrives. Furthermore, if the alarm (1) is also silence data, it is possible to prevent the alarm sound from sounding when an e-mail is received from a sender who is a mail address that has not been changed in the detailed display processing. In this way, the output of the notification sound is stopped for mail arrivals from senders who do not need to recognize the mail arrival immediately because the importance of the mail contents is low, and the priority is given to the mail arrival recognition. You can have it. It should be noted that it is of course possible to make a setting to not sound an alarm sound for a specific registered mail address.

By the way, the present invention can be implemented by executing, on a computer, an e-mail program describing a procedure corresponding to the flowchart of each process described in the present embodiment.

The present invention can also be implemented by pre-recording this program on a computer-readable recording medium, and loading and executing an e-mail program included in the recording medium on a main memory of the computer. It is. FIG. 25 shows an example of a computer-readable recording medium for storing an e-mail program. As shown in the drawing, a computer-readable recording medium includes a storage device 402 such as a ROM or a hard disk provided inside or outside the computer 401.
And a floppy disk, MO, CD-RO readable by a reading device provided in the computer 401.
The storage device 406 in the program server 405 that can be downloaded from the computer 401 via the network 404 may be any of a portable recording medium 403 such as an M and a DVD-ROM. Also,
This e-mail program is divided, recorded in a plurality of readable recording media in a distributed manner, and the program is loaded from the respective recording media into the main memory of the computer 401 as necessary and executed. It is also possible.

[0153]

According to the present invention, as described in detail above,
When a new e-mail is received, an alarm sound corresponding to the e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail is sounded and the e-mail is notified to notify the e-mail arrival. Can also be identified immediately. In addition, even when the setting for each mail address is not particularly performed, a predetermined alarm sound is automatically set. Therefore, unless a special setting is made, an alarm sound is always output even if the setting is forgotten. In addition, even when an e-mail is received from a partner for the first time, it can be recognized by outputting an alarm sound indicating the fact, and in this case, the e-mail address of the partner is automatically newly registered, which is convenient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an overall operation of a processing program for realizing an e-mail function.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of data relating to an e-mail function stored in a RAM 61;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart (part 1) of a received mail display process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart (part 2) of a received mail display process.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen display by a received mail display process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a received mail opening process.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen display by a received mail opening process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart (part 1) of a mail creation process.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a mail creation process (part 2).
It is.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a screen display by a mail creation process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an address list display process.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a screen display by an address list display process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart (part 1) of an address input process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart (part 2) of an address input process.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a screen display by an address input process.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart (part 1) of a detail display process.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart (part 2) of a detailed display process.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart (part 1) of a mail arrival detection process.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart (part 2) of a mail arrival detection process.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a sound source process.

FIG. 22: RAM for realizing the automatic alarm selection function
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the contents of data stored in 61.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart (part 1) of a mail incoming detection process when the alarm automatic selection function is realized.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart (part 2) of a mail incoming detection process when the alarm automatic selection function is realized.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a computer-readable recording medium for recording an e-mail program.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional e-mail device and the configuration of the entire e-mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1A, 1B, 1C E-mail device 2 UA 3 SMTP client 4 POP client 5 LAN 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D E-mail server 12 MTA 13 POP server 14A, 14B, 14C Mailbox 15 WAN 21 E-mail device 22 Input unit 23 Output unit 24 Main control unit 25 Storage unit 26 Communication control unit 31 Mouse 32 Keyboard 33 Input control unit 41 Output control unit 42 Display device 43 Sound generation device 51 CPU 61 RAM 62 ROM 101-364 Processing steps 401 Computer 402 Storage device 403 Portable Recording medium 404 Network 405 Program server 406 Storage device

Claims (7)

[Claims] An e-mail address storage unit for storing a plurality of e-mail addresses; a notification sound specifying unit for specifying a notification sound for each of the plurality of e-mail addresses stored in the e-mail address storage unit; An e-mail receiving means for receiving an e-mail, and when the e-mail receiving means receives an e-mail, outputting an annunciation sound designated by the annunciation sound designation means corresponding to an e-mail address of a sender of the received e-mail. An electronic mail device, comprising: 2. The electronic notification device according to claim 1, wherein the notification sound designation unit stores notification sound data specified for each of a plurality of e-mail addresses stored in the e-mail address storage unit. Mail device. 3. The notification sound output means, when the electronic mail receiving means receives an electronic mail from a sender who is an electronic mail address not specified by the notification sound specification means, a notification sound specified in advance. The e-mail device according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail device outputs the e-mail. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a received mail number counting unit for counting the number of received e-mails having the same e-mail address as a sender. 2. The e-mail according to claim 1, wherein a notification sound corresponding to the number of received e-mails whose sender is the e-mail address counted by the e-mail number counting means is specified for each of the e-mail addresses. apparatus. 5. The electronic mail device according to claim 1, wherein the notification sound designation means can specify that no notification sound is output. 6. An e-mail address storage procedure for storing a plurality of e-mail addresses, a notification sound specifying procedure for specifying a notification sound for each of the plurality of e-mail addresses stored in the e-mail address storage procedure, Receiving an e-mail according to the e-mail receiving procedure, and outputting an annunciation sound specified in the annunciation sound designation procedure corresponding to an e-mail address of a sender of the received e-mail. And a notification sound output procedure. 7. A recording medium storing a program read by the computer when used by a computer, wherein: an e-mail address storage procedure for storing a plurality of e-mail addresses; and an e-mail address storage procedure. A notification sound designation procedure for designating a notification sound to each of a plurality of e-mail addresses, an e-mail reception procedure for receiving an e-mail, and an e-mail received when the e-mail is received by the e-mail reception procedure. A notification sound output procedure for outputting the notification sound specified by the notification sound specification procedure corresponding to the e-mail address of the sender of the mail; and a computer-readable recording medium storing an e-mail program for causing a computer to execute.