Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
  • G06Q10/107—Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an attribute driven message management device and a method being related thereto.
• mail messages provide for a new means of communication such as graphics with associated audio comments or even full video. Further, products will allow for the integration of multimedia services with other messaging services like voice mail and fax.
• a major advantage of integrated mail messages is that they allow for a more integrated approach to different message types, as outlined above.
• This requires a central message handling for all different kinds of message data.
• This central message handling enables a user access to electronic messages from a plurality of terminals via different network types and it also enables communication with fax, telephone and e-mail users.
• Fig. 8 currently the management of messages is based on a system where a set of folders comprising messages is organized in a tree structure. Here, messages are copied and moved between different folders.
• each folder is dedicated to store new messages and each message may have an attribute assigned to it that is taken out of a pre-specified set, e.g., new, unread, read.
• the set of stored messages corresponds to an automatically filled database, e.g., comprising project related or administration related information. Further, searching in this database is supported by appropriate tools.
• filtering of incoming messages is supported based on a set of explicit rules specifying conditions for the context of specific fields in the received messages, e.g., ProcMail for UNIX. The result of this filtering is that an appropriate action is initiated, e.g., moving or copying a received message to a specific folder or creation and subsequent automatic storing of a new message.
• a received message comprises information with respect to, e.g., project A, project B, addresses and bills.
• project A e.g.
• project B e.g.
• addresses and bills e.g.
• an intuitive definition of the tree structure may result in messages stored either by the user of the message handling system himself or by a filtering of folder that is not appropriate for the message or in a folder not containing all related messages. Overall, messages may not be retrieved in a well aimed manner.
• the object of the invention is to achieve a highly efficient identification of messages according to user requirements within a message handling system.
• a message handling system comprising a storage means to store a plurality of messages and to provide dynamic access thereto via at least one attribute assigned to each message, each attribute describing at least one aspect of a message and a specific value of this aspect, input/output means to transfer messages to and from a storage means, respectively, view specifying means to input a user-defined view on the stored messages through a set of view aspects and a set of view values for each view aspect, and message retrieval means to select messages of a view from the storage means in accordance with the specific view aspects and view values assigned thereto.
• the efficient and advanced management handling system provides an important factor for the productivity.
• stored messages are managed in a very flexible and efficient manner since messages are accessed by so-called attributes and user specified views without any pre- specified structure imposed thereon. Therefore, when a user of the inventive message management system wants to see different messages with respect to a certain aspect they can be arranged in real time since messages are stored using a set of attributes to characterize the logical context of a message, contrary to the tree structure described with respect to the state of the art. As soon as a user specifies the logical context he is currently interested in, the message management system displays all related messages for the specific context.
• the invention allows to build up efficient message handling systems for all kinds of messages in a flexible and efficient manner.
• no modification of the previously stored messages or rearrangement thereof is necessary.
• the message handling system comprises a message processor means to process the messages selected from the storage means in accordance with the view.
• a message processor means to process the messages selected from the storage means in accordance with the view.
• the storage means is either adapted to store single messages in a sequential way such that to every message there is attached a linked list of attributes or such that all attributes are stored in a sequential way and to every attribute there is attached a linked list of messages.
• the storage scheme is particularly adapted for a very efficient access to messages stored in the inventive message handling system in dependence either of the different messages or the different aspects.
• the view specifying means comprises a view storage means to store standard views.
• a filter means to identify messages transferred to and from the storage means, respectively, in accordance with a prespecified view.
• the user has the option to be informed on occasion of the transfer of particular information he is relying on.
• a billing step may be executed automatically and security within the inventive message handling system may be enhanced. The last point is of particular importance within distributed computing environments where a nearly unlimited number of users may have access to the system.
• a sorting means to sort selected messages according to user specified criteria.
• the provision of a sorting means allows for selective operation on messages not only during the input and output thereof but also internally within the message handling system.
• criteria to carry out the search may be user defined criteria, system depended criteria, or hardware dependent criteria, respectively.
• an editing and structuring means within the message processing means.
• the editing and structuring means provides an enhanced processing capability within the message handling system.
• attributes may be modified to achieve a flexible adaptation of stored information.
• temporal and structural relationships between different messages may be exploited according to a certain view.
• Another option is the synchronization of messages in case of multimedia application.
• the object of the invention is achieved through a method of handling electronic messages in a digital communication system, comprising the steps of storing at least one message in a storage means in a way that at least one attribute is assigned to each message and each attribute describes at least one aspect of a message and a specified value assigned to this aspect, receiving a user defined view on the stored messages as a set of view aspects and a set of view values for each view aspect, and selecting the messages from the storage means according to the view and the specified view aspects and view values assigned thereto.
• similar advantages as outlined above may be achieved within a message handling system.
• Fig. 1 shows a systematic diagram of the message management system according to invention
• Fig. 2 shows a first architecture of the memory unit shown in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 shows a second architecture of the memory unit shown in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 shows a systematic diagram of the view specifying unit according to the invention
• Fig. 5 shows a systematic diagram of the message processing unit according to the invention
• Fig. 6 shows an example of structuring a plurality of different messages into a multimedia document according to the invention
• Fig. 7 shows a flowgraph diagram of the message handling method according to the invention.
• Fig. 8 shows the organization of messages in tree structures according to the state of the art.
• each message has assigned to it a specific set of attributes A m e A.
• each attribute a G A is typically a two-tuple (p, f) where p e P defines a specific aspect of a message and f e F defines the appropriate value assigned to this aspect.
• the most common aspect to look at the set of stored messages is the folder aspect Pfolder to find one common systematic criteria based on the context, the subject, the sender or the receiver.
• Another aspect is the time aspect Pti e tnat is enabled only in restricted manner in available message storage systems.
• Another aspect for stored messages is the communication partner p com aspect where messages are identified on the basis of the message.
• messages may exist a set of messages belonging to either a specific recipient or a group, e.g., members of a project, customers.
• Another aspect for messages could be the keyword aspect Pkeyw that is very useful to enable the user to add keywords for the characterization of the contexts of a message.
• the user has the possibility to add these keywords to a message in order to flexibly make the contexts of the message obvious and to enable a well-aimed search for specific messages.
• Another aspect for messages could be adapted to enable a discussion on a dedicated subject.
• To look at messages under this aspect means that the most obvious criteria for grouping messages is a common subject.
• ITfolder ⁇ project-a/addresses, project-a/incurring, project-a/outgoing, ... ⁇
• F status ⁇ new, unread, read, filtered, very urgent, urgent, ... ⁇
• F com ⁇ group-member, external-partner,... ⁇
• F keyw ⁇ address, financial data, contracts, order, ... ⁇
• each value set may be combined with the respective aspect to form a specific attribute a e A. Therefore for each aspect pj_ the set of corresponding attributes is defined as
• a all ( ⁇ folder ⁇ x F folder ) ( ⁇ keyw ⁇ x F keyw ) ( ⁇ status x F status ) ...
• a subset of all attributes A m c A is related to each specific messages, and such a subset of attributes may comprise several elements having the same aspect p but different values f assigned to this same aspect p, e.g.,
• a view V is defined as a set of view aspects p v c P and a plurality of sets of view values f p ⁇ - ⁇ Fp for each of the view aspects py c P.
• a view defines a subset My c M of messages being defined as
• a view is specified by the aspect folder and further by a specific value for this aspect as project_a/outgoing.
• this view would specify all messages comprising the aspect Pfoider' anc i n particular having the value of this aspect defined to project- a/outgoing.
• Another typical example would be that not only one but a plurality of specific values for a selected aspect are used to define a subset of messages, i.e.
• Fig. 1 shows a message handling system 10 according to the invention and being based on the principles outlined above.
• this message handling system comprises a memory unit 12 to actually store all messages in the system.
• this memory unit 12 is not particularly adapted to a single type of message but may store any type of message, e.g. a text ml or audio m2.
• different messages comprise different aspects assigned thereto and also different specific values for these different aspects.
• Fig. 1 also shows that the transfer of messages to the memory unit 12 is executed by an I/O unit 14. Further, a view specifying unit 16 allows to define different views on all messages stored in the memory unit 12 and message processing unit 18 is provided to carry out manipulations on messages selected from the memory unit 12 through a particular view.
• the I/O unit 14 is not only connected with the memory unit 12 but also to the view specifying unit 16 and the message processing unit 18. Further, the view specifying unit 16 as well the message processing unit 18 are also directly connected to the memory unit 12 in case message processing steps are carried out only within the message handling system 10 and without any external data transfer.
• a view will be specified through the view specifying unit 16 and then all messages characterized by this view will be outputted via the I/O unit 14.
• a view is specified by the view specifying unit 16 and this view is then used to control the input and output of messages to the memory unit 12, e.g., such that only messages belonging to a certain view may be inputted to the memory unit 12 or in case a message according to a specific view is outputted a corresponding notification is forwarded to the operator of the message handling system 10.
• Another option would be to select a subset of messages from the memory unit 12 according to a view specified in the view specifying unit 16 and then to forward the selected messages to the message processing unit 18. After carrying out processing steps on the selected messages these messages could either be restored in the memory unit 12 or be outputted by the I/O unit 14.
• Fig. 2 shows a first embodiment 12-1 of the memory unit 12 according to in Fig. 1.
• the different messages m ⁇ _, ... mj_, ..., m ⁇ _ are stored in a sequential manner.
• every message m-j_ also stores a pointer to a linked list of attributes. Therefore, with the address of a specific message m_ also all attributes aj__, ..., aj Lin are easily available.
• a further advantage of this organization of data is that the set of attributes can be simply modified either through deletion of an attribute from the linked list or by adding a further attribute of the end the linked list. All these steps can be carried out in constant time respective of the amount of information stored in the memory unit 12- 1.
• Fig. 3 shows another embodiment 12-2 of the memory unit 12 according to Fig. 1 that is particularly well suited to implement a search functionality within the message handling system.
• data is not organized according to the set of messages but according to the set of attributes currently being stored in the message handling system 10.
• all attributes a ⁇ _, ...,aj_, ..., aj_ are arranged in sequential manner and each attribute a j _ comprises a pointer to a linked list m j _i [ , ..., m j _ ⁇ _ of messages for which the specific attribute a_ holds true.
• the linked list should not actually comprise the message of such but only an address thereto in order to avoid a multiple storage of messages being related to a plurality of attributes.
• the major advantage of the organization of data according to Fig. 3 is that once a view has been specified as a subset of attributes the corresponding subset of messages is immediately available from the memory unit 12-2. Therefore, this embodiment of the inventive message handling system 10 permits a much more efficient and therefore rapid retrieval of messages according to prespecified views after storage than in the conventional method. Also, this implementation is well suited for cases where mathematic and logical operations are carried out on attributes to indirectly operate on the set of messages stored in the message handling system 10. Therefore the invention permits fast and highly accurate message retrieval after storage of messages according to Fig. 3.
• Fig. 4 shows a specific embodiment of the view specifying unit 16 with an interface 20, a view memory 22, and a pointer administration unit 24. As shown in Fig. 1, this view specifying unit 16 is connected both to the memory unit 12 and the I/O unit 14.
• the interface 20 serves to receive commands specified by a user of the message handling system 10. Further, the view memory 22 is provided to define different views on demand by the user. Finally, the pointer administration unit 24 is provided to maintain a correspondence between the views Vj_ stored in the view memory 22 and a list of pointers to all messages stored in the memory unit 12 and corresponding to such a view Vj_ .
• a view is defined by the user via the interface 20.
• the view is of general interest and used several times such a specified view may be stored in the view memory 22, as outlined above.
• the view memory 22 stores standard views corresponding to, e.g., the folder tree structure discussed with respect to the state of the art it can be seen that no functionality known from available message handling systems is lost using the attribute driven message handling system according to the present invention.
• the user interface differs between standard views like a view for the content of specific, predefined subfolders and user defined views.
• the standard views are generated automatically by the message handling system in case the user defines a new folder.
• the pointer administration unit 24 allows to enhance the access to messages being related to commonly used standard views. Since for each such standard view V j _ a linked list of pointers to those messages is maintained that are related to this view an access thereto is possible in constant time irrespective of the amount of information stored in the message handling system 10.
• this embodiment of the present invention allows for a significant increase of accessibility to messages when compared to an implementation with a linear search in the complete information stored in the message handling system 10.
• the search could take a very long time growing linearly with the number of messages stored in the system.
• Fig. 5 shows a further embodiment of the present invention, in particular an embodiment of the message processing unit 18 shown in Fig. 1.
• the message processing unit 18 comprises an interface unit 26, a filter unit 28, a sorting unit 30, and a editing and structuring unit 32.
• the interface unit 26 is provided to achieve the input and output of views, commands and messages to be handled by the message processing unit 18. Therefore, all further elements of the message processing unit 18, i.e. the filter unit 28, the sorting unit 30 and the editing and structuring unit 32 are connected to this interface unit. Further, the filter unit 28, the sorting unit 30 and the editing and structuring unit 32 are linked to each other so that one unit may operate on the results generated by the other.
• the first unit in the message processing unit 18 is the filter unit 28 adapted to select messages according to defined views and to identify the messages being related to such views, respectively. To this end a view may be inputted at the filter unit 28 via the interface unit 26.
• a first option of the invention is that the filter unit 28 is activated with every transfer of a message to and from the storage unit 12 such that it is checked whether the message is related to the view.
• the filter unit 28 then may initiate a plurality of steps within the inventive message handling system 10. Firstly, the filter unit 28 may be adapted to execute automatic alert in case a message with respect to a specific view is transferred. Thus, the user of the inventive message handling system 10 has the option to be informed on occasion of the transfer of particular information his relying on.
• Another option would be to automatically initiate a billing step within the message handling system 10 upon the detection of a specific transfer.
• This option is of particularly use within commercial message handling systems being attached to, e.g., the internet or a X.25 and X.400 network system.
• the filter unit 28 may be adapted to block a transfer of a message with respect to a specific view in case security and/or authentication requirements for this message are not fulfilled.
• This enhanced security feature is of particular importance in case the inventive message handling system 10 is used within distributed computing environments where a nearly unlimited number of users may have access to the system.
• the sorting unit 30 differs over the filter unit 28 that it not only serves to identify a subset of messages but also allows for a specific context depend modification of data read from the memory unit 12.
• the corresponding messages may be sorted according to a plurality of user defined sorting criteria.
• these criteria could be based on the aspect describe above, e.g., the time aspect so that different messages are sorted according to the receiving time.
• Another option would be sort the different messages according to operation system dependent criteria, e.g. the storage space required for different messages. This would be appropriate in case restrictions on the memory space within the memory unit 12 must be considered. Here, it might be very useful to check on those messages that require a very large storage space within the system.
• messages could be sorted according to criteria determined on the hardware level.
• One typical example for this would be the case where messages correspond to multimedia application where messages are grouped according to hardware requirements such as audio and video capabilities.
• the advantage of the attribute driven message handling system 10 of the invention is that it is much easier to combine a memory unit 12 with a filter and sorting unit.
• attributes may be added automatically according to prespecified rules, e.g., on occurrence of specific events in the message handling system 10.
• prespecified rules e.g., on occurrence of specific events in the message handling system 10.
• the message processing unit 18 in addition to the filter unit 28 and sorting unit 30 described above also comprises an editing and structuring unit 32 for enhanced data processing on messages selected according to a certain view.
• this editing and structuring unit 32 it is possible to modify attributes of selected messages through addition, deletion, or modification either of the aspects or the specific values for the aspects of a certain message. This allows for a flexible adaptation of stored information to changing conditions, e.g., during the development of a project.
• Another functionality of the editing and structuring unit 32 is the exploitation of temporal and structural relationships between messages according to a certain view such as the classification of these messages into different groups, e.g. text, audio, video, picture, mail, voice mail, fax, and also the synchronization of such messages, e.g., in case the different messages are related to a multimedia document .
• Fig. 6 shows a typical example for the exploitation of temporal and structural relationships.
• the different messages may correspond to a multimedia document to be displayed via, e.g., a PC-terminal or TV-set.
• the messages fall into the four different groups audio for announcing the information to be transferred, video for displaying moving pictures being related to the announced information, graphical information to be superimposed to the video representation and labeling for short message display.
• Synchronization arcs 34 to 50 consist of three basic elements reference time, minimum acceptable delay and maximum tolerable delay.
• the reference time is a relative or absolute reference definition for events synchronization. Absolute reference times are specified relative to the route of the multimedia document. Usually it is not possible to specify a timing relationship where the destination, e.g., the report video 58, starts before the source, e.g., the report text 54.
• the minimum acceptable delay time is a period that specifies the minimum delay that may be allowed in the synchronization relationship.
• a minimum delay zero units indicates a hard synchronization relationship.
• a negative delay represents the ability to start the target note sooner then the indicated reference time.
• the maximum tolerable delay time is a period that specifies the maximum delay that can be allowed in the synchronization relationship.
• a maximum delay of zero units indicates a hard synchronization relationship.
• a positive delay gives an upper bound on the permissible delay in starting an event to the reference time.
• Fig. 7 shows a flowchart diagram for a processing sequence within the inventive message handling system 10.
• a first step SI it is interrogated whether a request for a new view has been received by the message handling system 10. If this is the case, messages are selected according to the requested new view in step S2.
• step S3 it is interrogated whether in addition a request not only for the selection of new messages but also for a processing thereof has been received by the message handling system 10.
• filtering, sorting, editing and structuring as outlined above may be executed.
• the system will continuously loop through the steps SI to S4 so as to provide an user of the message handling system 10 with the necessary information in an on-line fashion.
• the invention allows to built up an efficient message handling system 10 for all kinds of messages, e.g., text, audio, video, picture, mail, voice mail, fax in a flexible manner with improved system integration.

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• 1997
  • 1997-10-20 DE DE1997146252 patent/DE19746252A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 1998
  • 1998-10-15 TW TW87117138A patent/TW476036B/zh active
  • 1998-10-19 CN CN 98810384 patent/CN1276893A/zh active Pending
  • 1998-10-19 EP EP98954431A patent/EP1029300A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1998-10-19 WO PCT/EP1998/006605 patent/WO1999021111A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1998-10-19 AU AU11546/99A patent/AU1154699A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1998-10-19 JP JP2000517361A patent/JP2001521302A/ja active Pending

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