JP2000322337A - Electronic mail message management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail message management system allowing an electronic mail tool user to prevent the missing answer or answer deadline delay of a received mail. SOLUTION: When the user of an electronic mail tool receives a received message 2 which requires an answer, a reception controlling means 1a sets an answer situation flag, and an answer deadline is set by an environment setting controlling means 1d, and stored in an environment information file 5, and displayed at a keyboard display 6, and the received message whose answer deadline is set is preserved in a received mail box 3. Then, the received message 2 is read from the received mail box 3 by a transmission controlling means 1b, and the answer situation flag is released, and the message is transmitted. Unreplied received message and received message whose answer deadline is expired are extracted from the received mail box 3 by a retrieval controlling means 1, and preserved in a work file 4, and a message list suited for the retrieval condition is displayed on the keyboard display 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a message management method for an e-mail tool, which is one of softwares on a computer, and more particularly to a method for automatically managing a received e-mail which requires a reply so that an e-mail tool user can use the e-mail tool. The present invention relates to an e-mail message management system capable of preventing the omission of a response and delay of a response deadline.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an e-mail system exchanges communication information such as messages between a plurality of computers connected to a network.
Various e-mail management methods have been developed for the management of leakage of received mail. Among them, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-139752 discloses that in order to ensure the management of the response time limit, after the mail with the response time limit is transmitted, the response time limit management process of the response mail from the receiver is automatically performed on the system side. It is disclosed that it can be performed in a simple or simple manner.

As another example of a conventional e-mail message management system, it is possible to set a flag in a received mail when it is necessary to reply to the received mail. The flag cannot be cleared. In addition, since it is not possible to set a response time limit for a received message that requires a response, there is a possibility that a received mail whose response time limit has passed is overlooked. If you forward a received mail that requires a reply to another respondent, it is difficult to accurately manage the reply status because the reply status flag is not automatically cleared even if there is a reply from the forwarder. there were.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional e-mail message management system, when a received e-mail that requires an answer is answered, the state of the state must be manually set. There is a risk of setting errors. In addition, since there is no method for identifying a received message whose response time limit has passed, there is no other method than checking the contents of unanswered received mail one by one. In addition, if a forwarded e-mail that requires a reply is forwarded to another respondent, even if there is a reply from the forwarder, the unanswered status is not automatically canceled at the forwarding source. There is difficulty to release.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. By automating the management of a received message that requires a reply, a user of the e-mail tool can receive a reply to the received mail. It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail message management method that can help prevent delays in response time and response.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic mail message management system according to the present invention comprises a receiving control means for setting a reply status flag indicating that a reply is necessary for a received mail and a reply time limit. Transmission control means for canceling the answer status flag when replying to a received mail requiring a reply, search control means for searching a received mailbox which requires a reply and an unanswered reply message, and the search control means A work file for temporarily storing the received message retrieved by the method described above, and an environment setting control unit for setting a prescribed value of the above-mentioned response time limit for a received mail requiring an answer. Therefore, when the user of the e-mail tool requires a response to the received e-mail, the reception control means sets a response status flag,
The environment setting control means sets the response expiration date, stores it in the environment information file, stores the received message with the response expiration set in the receiving mailbox, reads the received message from the receiving mailbox by the transmission control means, and sets the response status Since the flag is cleared and the message is sent, the search control means searches the received mailbox for an unanswered received message that requires an answer, so that the management of received messages that require an answer can be automated, The user of the e-mail tool can prevent omission of the reply of the received mail and delay of the reply due date.

[0007]

Next, an embodiment of an electronic mail message management system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, an e-mail control unit 1 includes a reception control unit 1a for storing a received message 2 in a reception mailbox 3, and a transmission control unit 1 for transmitting a reply message to the received reception message.
b, a search control unit 1c capable of searching for a non-answered message or a received message with an expired answer from the stored received mailbox, and an environment setting control unit 1d for setting an answer deadline.

Further, the message searched by the search control means 1c is temporarily stored in the work file 4, and the prescribed value of the response term set by the environment setting control means 1d is retained in the environment information file 5. I am trying to do it. The keyboard display 6 as an input / output unit is for displaying a received message, setting a response time limit, and creating a transmitted message.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the reception control means 1a. The reception control means 1a receives the received message 2 and displays it on the keyboard display 6 in a format as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the received message list display section 61 includes an answer status flag 611, a subject 612, a sender 613, a date 6
A list of received messages including 14, the number of lines 615, and the answer expiration date 616 is displayed.

The received message text display section 62 displays the content of the message body of the received message at the current cursor position of the received message list display section 61. When the user of the e-mail tool receives the received message 2 that requires a reply, the user sets the reply status flag of the received message list display unit 61. At this time, the response time limit setting screen 63 for setting the response time limit is displayed by the received message display processing 1a1 shown in FIG. 2, and the date obtained by adding the response time limit set by the environment setting control means 1d to the reception date is set as the specified value. indicate. The e-mail tool user can change the response deadline if necessary.

The specified answer expiration date is stored in the message header 2a of the received message 2 shown in FIG. The received message 2 for which the response time limit has been set is stored in the received mailbox 3 in the received message storage processing 1a2. When the received message 2 having the answer status flag set in the message header 2a is received, the transfer message determination process 1
a3 searches the received mailbox 3 for a message with the answer status flag set, compares the original sender address of the received message body with the reception time, and if the same is found, sets the answer status flag of the received mailbox 3 It is released and stored in the reception mailbox 3. In this way, when the user of the e-mail tool forwards the received mail to the other person to reply to the received mail when it is necessary, the person who forwarded the received mail for that message If the answer status flag of the received mail is cleared when the answer of is completed, the completion of this answer can be automatically confirmed,
Unanswered messages can be prevented from leaking.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transmission control means 1b. The operation of the transmission control means 1b differs between the reply processing means 1b1 and the transfer processing means 1b2. The reply processing means 1b1
Received mail input process 1b11 from received mailbox 3
The received message 2 is read, and the answer state flag of the message is canceled in the answer state flag determination processing 1b12. After that, a transmission message is created in a transmission mail creation process 1b14, and the message is transmitted in a reply mail transmission process 1b15.

The transfer processing means 1b2 determines the response state flag of the transfer message by the response state flag determination processing 1b21, and inserts the original sender address and reception time at the head of the message body 2b by the sender information insertion processing 1b22. . Thereafter, outgoing mail creation processing 1b23
To create a forwarded message and send reply mail 1b2
In step 4, the transfer message is transmitted.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the search control means 1c. In a search condition input process 1c1, a search condition of a message in the received mailbox 3 is fetched. When searching for an unanswered received message, the unanswered search process 1c2 retrieves the received message in the received mailbox 3, determines the answer status flag in the message header 2a, and searches the set message for the search result storing process 1c4. To save to work file 4. When all searches are completed, the keyboard display 6 is displayed in search result list display processing 1c5.
Displays a list of messages that match the search conditions.

To search for a received message whose response has expired, the received message in the received mailbox 3 is retrieved in response expiration search processing 1c3, and the response date in the message header 2a is compared with the current date. Search results storage processing 1 for messages overdue
The work file 4 is stored in c4. When all searches have been completed, a message list that matches the search conditions is displayed on the keyboard display 6 in search result list display processing 1c5.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the environment setting control means 1d. The response time limit input processing 1d1 displays the response time limit setting screen shown in FIG. 7 on the keyboard display 6, captures the number of days from the reception date to the reply date in the response time limit storage processing 1d2, and stores it in the environment information file 5. FIG. 8 shows the structure of the received message 2. The received message 2 includes a message header 2a, a message body 2b, an attached file 2c1, an attached file 2c2,... The message header 2a is configured as shown in FIG. 9, and includes a sender address, a recipient address list, a reception date and time, a message title, a reception path list, an answer status flag, an answer deadline, and the like.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a user of an electronic mail tool needs a response to a received mail, if a response cannot be made immediately and the mail is put on hold, a response time limit is set. Since the received mail box is easily searched by the search control means after it has passed, it is possible to prevent delay in answering and leakage of unanswered messages.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of a reception control unit in the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display contents of a received message displayed on a keyboard display in the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of a transmission control means in the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram of a search control means in the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of an environment setting control unit in the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a response time limit setting screen displayed on a keyboard display in the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure of a received message applied to the electronic mail message management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a message header in the received message shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Email control means, 1a ... Reception control means, 1
a1... received message display processing, 1a2... received message storage processing, 1a3.
1b ... transmission control means, 1b1 ... reply processing means, 1b
11 received mail input processing, 1b12 answer state flag determination processing, 1b13 answer state flag release processing,
1b14 ... sent mail creation processing, 1b15 ... reply mail transmission processing, 1b2 ... transfer processing means, 1b21 ...
Answer state flag determination processing, 1b22 ... sender information insertion processing, 1b23 ... forwarded mail creation processing, 1b24 ...
Forward mail transmission processing, 1c ... search control means, 1c1 ...
... search condition input processing, 1c2 ... unanswered search processing, 1c
3 ... Expiration search processing for response expiration, 1c4 ... Search processing for storing search result, 1c5 ... Display processing for search result list, 1d ... Environmental setting control means, 1d1 ... Processing for inputting response expiration, 1d2 ...
… Response time limit storage processing, 2 …… Received message, 2a ……
Message header, 2b ... message body, 2c1 ...
... Attached file, 2c2 ... Attached file, 3 ... Received mailbox, 4 ... Work file, 5 ... Environment information file, 6 ... Keyboard display, 61 ... Received message list display area, 611 ... Response state flag,
612 ... subject, 613 ... sender, 614 ... date,
615: Number of lines, 616: Response deadline date, 62: Display part of received message text, 63: Response deadline setting screen.

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A receiving control means for setting a reply status flag indicating that a reply is required for a received mail and a reply time limit, and a transmission control for canceling the reply status flag when replying to the received mail requiring a reply. Means, a search control means for searching for an unanswered received message which requires an answer from the received mailbox, a work file for temporarily storing the received message searched by the search control means, and a received mail requiring an answer. And an environment setting control means for setting a prescribed value of the response time limit. 2. The reception control means according to claim 1, wherein, when the received mail requiring an answer is forwarded to another person, when the forwarded person answers the received mail, the answering state flag of the received mail is cleared. The electronic mail message management method according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The e-mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein the reply expiration date can be changed by an e-mail tool user. 4. The electronic mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein said reception control means displays a received message on said input / output means when receiving the received message. 5. A received message list display unit for displaying a received message list including a reply status flag of the received message, a subject, a sender, a date, a number of lines, and a reply expiration date. And a received message body display section for displaying the contents of the message body of the received message where the cursor is currently positioned in the received message list display section, and an answer time limit setting screen for setting an answer time limit. The email message management system according to claim 4. 6. The e-mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein said reception control means stores the received message with the answer deadline set in said reception mailbox. 7. The reception control means, when receiving a reception message with a response status flag set in a message header, searches the reception mailbox for a message with a response status flag set, and retrieves the original of the received message body. 2. The e-mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein if the transmission address and the reception time are the same, the answer status flag of the reception mailbox is released and stored in the reception mailbox. 8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means reads a received message from the received mailbox, clears an answer state flag, and then creates a transmission message to transmit the message. Mail message management method. 9. The transmission control means according to claim 6, wherein the transmission control means determines an answer state flag of the transfer message, inserts an original transmission address and a reception time at the head of the message body, and then creates and transmits the transfer message. The electronic mail message management method according to claim 1. 10. The search control means, when retrieving an unanswered received message from the received mailbox, judges a response status flag in a message header and saves the set message in the work file. 2. The electronic mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein a list of messages meeting the search conditions is displayed on said input / output means after the search of all unanswered received messages is completed. 11. The search control means retrieves a received message of the received mailbox when searching for a received message whose response has expired, and stores a message whose current date in the message header exceeds the response deadline in the work file. 2. The e-mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein a list of messages matching the search conditions is displayed on said input / output means after all searches have been completed. 12. The environment setting control means displays a response time limit setting screen on the input / output means, captures the number of days from a reception date to a response date, and stores the number of days in an environment information file. 1. The e-mail message management method according to 1. 13. An electronic mail message management system according to claim 1, wherein said input / output means is a keyboard display.