JP2000353129A - Electronic mail managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent unnecessary mail from being stored in a mailbox by preferentially deleting mail whose main storage time limit is not set when the capacity of the mailbox becomes less than a certain value. SOLUTION: Mail deletion monitor functions 102 and 113 of an electronic mail server 10 and an electronic mail client 11 monitor the set storage time limit of mail periodically once a day and delete mail which reaches its time limit. The functions 102 and 113 monitor the free capacity of mailboxes 101 and 111 and automatically delete mail preferentially from mail whose storage time limit is not set when the free capacity becomes less than the certain value. When the free capacity is not larger than the certain value, message output functions 103 and 114 output warning messages of deficiency in free capacity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electronic mail management method in an electronic mail system.

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional e-mail system, when the free space in a mailbox of a server falls below a certain value,
The server automatically deleted the server according to the categories (e.g., the expiration date of mail specified by the server, the number of mails held, the free space of the mailbox, etc.) possessed by the server. For this reason, necessary mail is stored in the mailbox of each client, but the mail in the mailbox of the client is accumulated in the mailbox unless each client deletes the mail. As this type of mail management method, for example, JP-A-9-305505 is cited.

In the above prior art, there is a problem that a mail held for reference by a client later is automatically deleted against the intention of the client. For this reason, the client needs to store the mail to be held in the mailbox of each client. In addition, unnecessary mail in the client's mailbox is accumulated in the mailbox unless the client deletes it.
There is a problem of consuming the capacity of the box. The present invention prevents a necessary mail from being automatically deleted from a server's mailbox by setting an expiration date of the mail by a client, and furthermore, deletes an unnecessary mail at an early stage.・ The purpose is to prevent the capacity of the box from being wasted.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention enables a client to set an expiration date of mail when referring to mail in a mail box of a server. In addition, it is also possible to set a mail expiration date for mail stored in a client's mail box. Further, when the capacity of the mail box becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, mails for which a mail storage period is not set are preferentially deleted so that unnecessary mails are not accumulated in the mail box.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an electronic mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The e-mail system includes an e-mail server 10 and an e-mail client 11. When a mail is received, it is first stored in the mail box 101 of the electronic mail server 10. When the client refers to the received mail in the mail box 101 of the server, the mail storage period setting function 112 of the client can set the storage period of the mail. In the setting of the storage expiration date, the number of storage days (10 days, 1 month, etc.) and the storage expiration date (XX, YY, ZZ days) can be specified. If the number of days to save is specified, the number of days to save is added to the current date, and the storage date is set internally. Also, the mail storage period setting function 112 can set the mail storage period for the mail stored in the server's mail box 101 to the client's mail box 111. The mail deletion monitoring function (102, 113) of the server and the client monitors the set storage period of the mail, for example, once a day periodically, and deletes the expired mail. In addition, the mail deletion monitoring function (102,
113) also monitors the free space of the mailboxes (101, 111), and when the free space falls below a certain value, preferentially automatically deletes mails for which a storage period is not set. If the free space does not exceed a certain value, the warning message output function (103, 114) outputs a warning message of insufficient free space. FIG. 2 shows the mail information management table 20 of the mail deletion monitoring function (102, 113). In the mail information management table 20, a mail box name 201, a free space 202 of the mail box, a mail name 203, a storage expiration date 204, and whether or not the client has set a storage expiration date 205 are set. Expiration date 204
In, the expiration date of the mail is set. If the storage period set by the mail storage period setting function 112 is the storage period, the date obtained by adding the storage period to the set date is set to the storage period 20.
4, and if it is the storage expiration date, the value is set as it is to the storage expiration date 204. Email deletion monitoring function (102,
113) periodically stores the mailboxes (101, 11).
The mail information management table 20 is updated with reference to the information of 1). FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the mail deletion. This flowchart operates when monitoring the mail storage expiration date or when the free space 202 of the mail box falls below a certain value. The mail deletion monitoring function (102, 11)
3) deletes the mail in the corresponding mail box name 201 (step 300). At the time of monitoring the storage expiration date of the mail, the mail whose monitoring date> the storage expiration date is deleted from the mail box (step 301). In the deletion when the free space 202 of the mail box falls below a certain value, first, it is checked whether or not there is any mail in the mail box for which the storage expiration date setting 205 is not set (step 302).
If there is an e-mail with no expiration date setting 205,
Until the free space in the box becomes equal to or more than a certain value, the mails whose storage expiration date 205 is not set are deleted in order of earlier storage expiration date (step 303). If there is no mail with no storage expiration setting 205, the mail is not deleted, and a warning message of insufficient free space is output from the warning message output function 114 (step 304).

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a necessary mail from being automatically deleted by setting an expiration date of a mail by a client, and to delete an unnecessary mail at an early stage. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the capacity of the mailbox from being wasted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a mail information management table of a mail deletion monitoring function in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of mail deletion of a mail deletion monitoring function in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... E-mail server, 101 ... Mail box,
102: E-mail deletion monitoring function, 103: Warning message output function, 11: E-mail client, 111: Mail box, 112: E-mail retention period setting function, 1
13: Mail deletion monitoring function, 114: Warning message output function, 20: Mail information management table of mail deletion monitoring function, 201: Mail box name, 202: Free space, 203: Mail name, 204: Retention period, 205: Set storage expiration date, 300, 301, 302, 303, 30
4. Each processing step in the flowchart.

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B082 CA09 CA14 5B089 GA11 GA21 JA31 KA11 KA13 KB11 KC39 KC59 LA14 LA15 LB11 5K030 GA06 HA06 HB08 HB15 KA01 KA06 LC18 LD18 LE05 MA13 MB15

Claims (3)

[Claims] In an electronic mail system comprising a server and a client, a mail storage period setting function for setting a storage period of each mail in the server or the client is provided, and according to the storage period set by the mail storage period setting function. An e-mail management method comprising an e-mail deletion function for deleting each e-mail. 2. An e-mail management method according to claim 1, wherein when the free space of the mailbox becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, the e-mail having no storage expiration date is preferentially deleted. Management method. 3. If the free space does not exceed a certain value even after the e-mail management method according to claim 1 and the mail deletion according to the method according to claim 3, the warning message output function issues a warning message indicating that the free space is insufficient. E-mail management method characterized by outputting.