JP2001160012A - System for automatically managing electronic mail and client system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure electronic mail according to the reception data of the electronic mail and the preserving period of the electronic mail, and to improve the using efficiency of a storage medium for storing the electronic mail or data of a client. SOLUTION: This electronic mail management system for electronic mail by a client terminal is provided with a file deleting means for periodically deleting long term preserved open files other than invalid date files or undeletable files of each electronic mail from a disk resource for preserving plural electronic mails. Thus, when this use rate exceeds a preliminarily set disk use rate, the undeletable files are compressed, the disk resource can be ensured.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an automatic e-mail management method in which a client receives an e-mail and efficiently saves and manages a limited mail file, and a client system and a computer-readable storage medium thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, LAN (Local Area Network),
BACKGROUND ART Computer networks such as a WAN (Wide Area Network) and the Internet have been dramatically advanced, and the use of electronic mail has been rapidly spreading while activating a human community.

[0003] Among them, the number of people who use e-mail has increased, and the opportunity to perform e-mail has increased. Also, by adding a binary mail or the like together with an electronic mail, the capacity per mail has been increasing. Therefore, in order to effectively use the limited disk capacity of the storage means, it is necessary to secure unnecessary disk resources by deleting unnecessary mails and the like.

[0004] In view of the above, there has been proposed means for periodically deleting unnecessary mail from a mailbox on a server. As prior art, there are Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 4-243342 and 5-199261. In addition, e-mails whose expiration date has passed or e-mails which have passed a certain period after reception are deleted. Thus, there is a demand for efficient use of storage means, particularly storage areas of storage media such as hard disks and MO (Magnet Optics) disks.

As a conventional example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-243342 discloses that an expiration date monitoring processing unit for monitoring the expiration date of an electronic mail in a transmission side mail system uses a validity period monitoring processing unit even if the expiration date has expired. The unopened mail that has not been opened is detected, and the sender's unopened mail processing unit generates change information that changes the expiration date of the detected unopened mail or delete information that deletes the unopened mail, and sends it to the outgoing mailbox of the own mail system. Change or delete sent mail information stored in. Then, in the receiving-side mail system, the receiving-side unopened mail processing unit changes or deletes the received mail information held in the receiving mailbox based on the change information or the deletion information transmitted from the transmitting-side mail system. .

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 5-199261 describes this with reference to FIG. 6. According to this prior art, a mailbox maintenance condition instructing section 31 sets a deletion condition of an e-mail and an automatic driving section condition. The start date and time of the mailbox maintenance unit 32 is set by the instruction unit 33, the mailbox maintenance unit 32 is started at the start date and time by the automatic operation unit 34, and the mailbox control unit 35 is deleted from the mailbox file 36. Email has been deleted.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-335951 discloses a data storage for storing data of an electronic mail in a mailbox device as an electronic blackboard which obtains an electronic mail from a network, stores the mail, and delivers it to each client. Means, condition setting means for setting the data erasing condition, and erasing means for erasing data satisfying the erasing condition when the capacity of the input data is larger than the free space of the data storage means, Further, as condition setting means for erasing when the free space of the data storage means becomes less than a predetermined value or for setting data reduction conditions, a data reduction means for reducing the resolution of data satisfying the reduction conditions is provided. Is described. In this way, unnecessary data that meets the erasing conditions is automatically erased,
Alternatively, it is described that the resolution of data satisfying the reduction condition can be reduced and stored in the storage unit, and the data can be stored even when the free space is large.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-293334 discloses a method for managing an e-mail by an e-mail server, in which a preservation period or a date and a process at the elapse of the preservation period are set as conditions for storing individual e-mails. It is described that an e-mail whose storage period or expiration date has passed is detected, a notification to the user or automatic deletion of the e-mail is performed according to the processing at the elapse of the pre-specified storage period, and the pre-set storage conditions are reset. ing. In this way, by managing the retention period of mail stored in folders,
It is described that, when the storage period elapses, unnecessary mails are promptly deleted at that time to prevent accumulation of unnecessary mails in the folder.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-177610 discloses an electronic mail client, a time measuring means, a first means for setting a capacity value of a mailbox, and a second means for measuring a used amount of a mailbox. And third means for comparing the capacity value of the mailbox and the used amount of the mailbox to determine the remaining amount; fourth means for determining and recording the date and time of receiving the mail by the clocking means; and the recorded date and time. Has a fifth means for searching for old mail and a sixth means for deleting the mail searched by the fifth means from the mailbox when the value obtained from the remaining amount is smaller than a predetermined value. Is described. In this manner, it is described that the remaining capacity of the storage means is not exhausted, the area used by another processing program is not exhausted due to the insufficient remaining capacity, and the e-mail cannot be received.

[0010]

However, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-243342, only the e-mail whose expiration date has passed is deleted, but in the present invention, not only that, but also the user needs (the deletion is impossible). It is also necessary to secure disk resources by deleting other mails (long-term storage opened files) other than those that have been forgotten to delete (other than the flag is set). If the disk resources still cannot be secured, it is required to secure the disk resources by compressing the long-term hold file and the short-term storage open file.

In the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-199261, an e-mail whose expiration date has passed and an e-mail which has passed a certain period after reception are deleted. After a certain period of time, the e-mail is deleted. In the present invention, it is required to protect an important document by using a deletion impossible flag so that an electronic mail that the user does not want to delete is not deleted even after a certain period of time.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-335951, data is erased from the storage means or stored in the storage means with the resolution of the data lowered, but in each case, the free space is smaller than a certain capacity. But only if it happens, delete files regularly on a daily basis,
Also, there is no description that the free space of the file has become smaller than a certain amount, and the capacity is increased because only the capacity of the storage means is checked to delete data and lower the resolution. Until then, very little processing is done, so more consideration should be given to disk usage efficiency.

[0013] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-29334 discloses a method of confirming a mail deletion file. When checking a received mail, a storage period or a due date, a notice to a user, or automatic deletion is provided for each mail. As mentioned, but only for the retention period or due date of the email,
Since the capacity of the storage means of the client is limited, sufficient mail cannot be managed, and even if important mails are notified, there is a problem in that the user is troubled.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-177610 discloses a method of measuring the amount of mailbox used and deleting the mailbox in the order of deletion date or oldest to secure the remaining capacity of the storage unit. The efficiency is not described, and furthermore, based on the usage efficiency, by compressing the received e-mail and storing it in the storage means, a means for storing the received e-mail as much as possible is required.

Therefore, the present invention provides an electronic mail receiving date,
An object of the present invention is to secure an e-mail in accordance with a retention period of the e-mail, and to further improve the use efficiency of a storage medium for storing an e-mail and data of a client.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a more efficient electronic mail automatic management system in a client.

[0017]

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail management system for electronic mail by a client terminal, wherein the electronic mail is periodically stored from a disk resource storing a plurality of electronic mails. File deletion means for deleting long-term storage opened files other than invalid date files and non-deletable files, and compressing the non-deletable files to secure the disk resources when the disk usage rate exceeds a preset disk usage rate It is characterized by.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an e-mail management system for e-mail by a client terminal, wherein a long-term storage file having a long storage period and a long-term storage file are stored when a disk resource for storing the plurality of e-mails has a high usage rate. A file compression means for compressing a short-term storage opened file having a short period is provided, the disk usage rate is suppressed to a predetermined range, and the disk resources are secured.

According to the present invention, in a client system for receiving and processing an electronic mail, a mail storage means for storing the electronic mail, and a mail storage means for receiving the electronic mail, File information data storage means for writing the e-mail information and the arrival date by file arrival date check processing for checking the file access date, and the file access date of the e-mail in the mail storage means serving as a deletion reference by file access date check processing The file information data storage means for performing a check and writing the file access date;
Normal deletion processing for deleting an invalid date file after a predetermined period of the e-mail and a long-term storage and opening file having no undeletable flag based on the file information data of the file information data storage means by the file normal deletion processing Means for retrieving the invalid date file by periodically checking the file access date.

According to the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having an e-mail management system for receiving, storing and managing an e-mail, storing the e-mail in a mail storage means, and fetching the e-mail. The mail storage means is checked for the arrival date of the e-mail by file arrival date check processing, the information of the e-mail and the arrival date are written to the file information data storage means, and the file access date check processing is performed. Checking the file access date of the e-mail in the mail storage means serving as a deletion reference, writing the file access date in the file information data storage means, and periodically checking the disk usage rate in the mail storage means Data stored in the control data storage means in advance. The disk usage rate and the actual disk usage rate are checked, and when the actual disk usage rate exceeds the disk usage rate of the control data storage means, the file access date check processing becomes the deletion reference. The file access date of the mail storage unit is checked, the check result is written to the file information data storage unit, and the file is periodically deleted based on the file information data of the file information data storage unit by a file normal deletion process. The invalid date file is searched for by checking the access date, and the long-term storage opened file having no undeletable flag is searched. E-mail management method characterized by deleting the opened file Characterized in that it was used as a program.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having an e-mail management method for receiving, storing and managing an e-mail. And checks the arrival date of the e-mail by the file arrival date check process with respect to the e-mail storage unit that has received the e-mail, and stores the information of the e-mail and the arrival date in the file information data storage unit. The file access date check processing checks the file access date of the e-mail in the e-mail storage means serving as a deletion reference, writes the file access date in the file information data storage means, To periodically check the disk usage The disk usage rate set in advance in the control data storage means and the actual disk usage rate are checked, and when the actual disk usage rate exceeds the disk usage rate of the control data storage means, the file access is checked. A file access date of the mail storage unit serving as the deletion reference is checked by a day check process, the check result is written to the file information data storage unit, and the file information data of the file information data storage unit is written by the file normal deletion process. Based on the,
The invalid date file is searched by periodically checking the file access date, and the long-term storage opened file having no undeletable flag is searched, and the invalid date file having passed a predetermined period from the received date and time is searched. And deleting the long-term storage opened file.

According to the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having an e-mail management method for receiving, storing and managing an e-mail as a program. And checks the arrival date of the e-mail by the file arrival date check process with respect to the e-mail storage unit that has received the e-mail, and stores the information of the e-mail and the arrival date in the file information data storage unit. The file access date check processing checks the file access date of the e-mail in the e-mail storage means serving as a deletion reference, writes the file access date in the file information data storage means, To periodically check the disk usage The disk usage rate set in advance in the control data storage means and the actual disk usage rate are checked, and when the actual disk usage rate exceeds the disk usage rate of the control data storage means, the file access is checked. A file access date of the mail storage unit serving as the deletion reference is checked by a day check process, the check result is written to the file information data storage unit, and the file information data of the file information data storage unit is written by the file normal deletion process. Based on the,
The invalid date file is searched by periodically checking the file access date, and the long-term storage opened file having no undeletable flag is searched, and the invalid date file having passed a predetermined period from the received date and time is searched. And deleting the long-term storage opened file.

Further, according to the present invention, at the terminal of the client which has obtained the mail from the mail server, the disk resources are secured by periodically deleting the files by checking the files, and the disk is constantly compressed by checking the usage rate of the disks. It is intended to provide a method for setting the usage rate to a predetermined range.

The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, a mail file 21 of a server 2 is loaded into a client 1 by various mail applications 15. For the fetched mail file 18, the normal deletion processing means 12 checks the newly arrived mail by the file arrival date check processing 121, writes the file information in the file information data 17, and checks the file access date. The process 122 checks the file access date of the mail file 18 as a deletion criterion, writes the file access date into the file information data 17, and the file normal deletion process 123 executes the invalid date file based on the file information data 17, Delete long-term storage opened files that cannot be deleted. It is possible to secure disk resources by periodically deleting files by these three processes. Also, for the mail file 18, the forced compression processing unit 13 checks the disk usage rate set in the control data 16 and the actual disk usage rate by the constant disk usage rate check processing 131, and Only when the usage rate exceeds the disk usage rate of the control data 16, the file access date check processing 132 checks the file access date of the mail file 18 as a deletion criterion, and sets the file access date to the file information data 17. , And the file is compressed in the order of the long-term storage file and the short-term storage opened file based on the file information data 17 until the disk usage rate of the control data 16 is satisfied. By using these three processes to compress the file when the disk usage rate is high, the disk usage rate can be set to a predetermined range. Also, in the case of forced processing, the mail file can be restored by compressing it instead of deleting it.

The term "long-term storage" refers to a period in which the file access date exceeds the file deletion period of the control data 16, and the short-term storage refers to a period in which the file access date does not exceed the file deletion period of the control data 16. .

[0026]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments according to the present invention will be described.
This will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment (1) Description of Configuration Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a mail server 2 connected to a network such as the external Internet, and a keyboard on the client side. And the like, and a client 1 for checking the mail acquired from the mail server 2.

The client 1 includes a file content changing unit 11, a normal deletion processing unit 12, and a forced compression processing unit 1.
3, a file decompression processing unit 14, various mail application processing units 15, a control data storage unit (hereinafter, referred to as control data) 16 of a storage medium, and a file information data storage unit (hereinafter, file information) of a storage medium. 17) and a mail file 18 for temporarily storing one electronic mail as one file.
Further, a CPU 19 is provided as a control device for mainly controlling the inside of the client, and operatively outputs and inputs data to an output device 4 such as an external display, printer, floppy disk driver, or hard disk device. .

The file content change processing means 11 has a control process 111 and a deletion impossible process 112. The control processing 111 changes the disk usage rate and changes the file deletion period according to the input from the input device 3. The deletion impossible processing 112 changes the deletion impossible flag according to the input from the input device 3. Since the control processing 111 and the deletion impossible processing 112 are processed by a software program in accordance with an instruction from the input device 3, the description is made without using the control processing means and the deletion impossible processing means. Either may be used. The same applies to the following description of “processing”.

Here, the mail file 18 is the mail file itself input via the various mail applications 15, and the mail file is addressed to this client or to carbon copy (CC).
The mail transmitted from the mail server 2 includes a source address, a sent date and time, a subject, and a message, and includes special data such as a retention period.

The file information data 17 is composed of storage means, and is data in which file information such as a file name, a file size, an arrival date, and a file invalid date (source designation) which are also file identifiers of the mail file 18 are stored. is there. Further, the control data 16 includes a subject identifier which is a file name, the capacity of a mail file having the subject,
The disk usage rate, which is the ratio between the current storage capacity of the mail file 18 and the maximum storage capacity of the mail file 18, is stored in the storage medium as control data.

The normal deletion processing means 12 includes an electronic mail file arrival date check processing 121, a file access date check processing 122, and a file normal deletion processing 123.
And File arrival date check processing 121
Checks the newly arrived mail, and writes file information such as the arrival date of the mail, the storage period of the mail, and the storage date of the mail to the file information data 17. The file access date check processing 122 checks the file access date as a deletion reference for the mail file 18 and writes the file access date in the file information data 17. The file normal deletion process 123 is based on the file information data 17 obtained by the file arrival date check process 121 and the file access date check process 122, and is based on the file information data 17 and stores an invalid date file that stores the mail that has passed the invalid date that can be deleted. , And delete the long-term storage opened file that cannot be deleted.

The forced compression processing means 13 includes a disk usage check process 131, a file access date check process 132, and a file forced compression process 133. The disk usage check process 131 is performed by using the control data 1
A check is made between the disk usage rate set to 6 and the actual disk usage rate. The file access date check process 132 checks the file access date serving as a deletion criterion for deleting the mail file 18 from the date when the file was accessed, and writes the file access date to the file information data 17. The forced compression process 133 compresses the mail file of the maximum file size and the oldest file access date among the long-term storage files based on the file information data 17 until the disk usage rate of the control data 16 is satisfied. If the actual disk usage still does not satisfy the disk usage of the control data 16, the maximum file size among the short-term storage opened files until the disk usage of the control data 16 is satisfied,
Compress the mail file on the earliest file access date.

The file decompression processing means 14 has a file decompression processing 141. File decompression processing 141
Performs deletion or decompression of the mail file compressed by the compulsory compression processing means 13 according to a user selection instructed from the input device 3.

The above processing is performed by the CPU 1 of the client.
9 is processed by a program for operating the program 9 or by a dedicated application program. However, each function may be provided as hardware, and in that case, it may be referred to as a processing unit. For example,
Disk usage check processing means, file forced compression processing means, or file normal deletion processing means may be used.

Here, the disk usage rate refers to the mail file 18 stored on the disk as described above.
Is the ratio of the maximum storage capacity of the mail file 18 to the current storage capacity of the mail file 18.

(2) Description of Operation Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail.

First, the disk usage rate is input from the input device 3, and the disk usage rate of the control data 16 is set by the control processing 111. The control data 16
Also, when the disk usage rate is changed, the change is performed by the control processing 111 from the input device 3. Each time the mail file 18 is not desired to be deleted, the file information data 1
7 is set to the deletion impossible flag. With the above settings, the normal deletion processing means 12 for executing the regular file normal deletion processing 123 and the forced compression processing means 13 for executing the file forced compression processing 133 at the time of high disk usage rate secure the disk resources. I do.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the normal deletion processing means 12 includes a file arrival date check processing 121 (step A1), a file access date check processing 122 and (A2), and a file normal deletion processing 123 and ( A3) are sequentially executed.

The normal deletion processing means 12 first searches all mail files 18 sequentially (step A11) by the file arrival date check processing 121 (step A1),
The file information data 17 is read (step A1).
2) It is determined whether or not the file information data 17 has the file information of the mail file 18 corresponding to the preset normal deletion period (step A13). After confirming the file information of the file name, the file size, the arrival date, and the file invalidation date (designation of the transmission source) (step A14), the file information is written in the file information data 17 by executing the file arrival date check processing 121 (step A14). Step A15).

Next, file access date check processing 1
22 (A2), all the mail files 18 are sequentially searched (step A21), and after checking the file access date of the mail (step A22), the file access date is written into the file information data 17 (step A2).
3).

Finally, in the file normal deletion process 123 (A3), the file information data 17 is sequentially searched (step A31), and it is determined whether or not the file information data 17 includes the file information data (A32). If the file exists, the current time is compared with the file arrival date of the file information data. If the predetermined time has passed, the file is regarded as a file having an invalid date and the file invalid date of the file information data 17 of the file is changed to the execution date. Is satisfied (step A33), the deletion impossible flag of the file information data 17 is not undeletable (step A34), and the period of the file access date and the execution date of the file information data 17 is the predetermined time of the control data 16. In the case of an open file (long-term storage open file) after the file deletion period (Step A35) Their deeds to delete the e-mail file 18 (step A36), last in, reads the control data 16 (A37), and writes the processing date in the final regular processing date of the control data 16 (step A38). This normal deletion processing means is performed daily to secure disk resources.

As shown in FIG. 3, the forced compression processing means 13 performs the disk usage check processing 131 and (B
1), determine whether the file usage rate is high (B2),
The file access date check process 132 (B3), the file forced compression process is executed (B4), the file is compressed, and the process ends.

The forced compression processing means 13 always performs the disk usage check processing 131 (B1), as shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), the disk usage specified or changed from the input device 3 of the control data 16 is read (step B11), and it is checked whether the actual disk usage is higher than this disk usage (step B11). Step B1
2). The actual disk usage rate is expressed as a ratio of the maximum capacity of the mail file 18 to the usage capacity of the mail file 18, and the actual disk usage rate is expressed by the mail file 1.
Since the maximum capacity of 8 is originally known, it can be easily calculated from the actual disk usage capacity.

If the actual disk usage rate is higher (B2), a file access date check process 132 is performed as shown in FIG. 3C (similar to the file access date check process 122) (B3). . The file access date check process 132 determines whether or not the mail file 18 exists (B21). If YES, the mail file access date of the mail file 18 is checked (B22), and the mail file 18 is stored in the file. A process for writing to the information data is executed (B23).

As shown in FIG. 3D, finally, the control data 16 is read by the file forced compression process 123 (step B4) (step B31), and the file information data 17 is sequentially searched (step B32). The presence or absence of the file information data is searched (step B33). If the file information data exists, the file of the long-term suspension file having the maximum file size is extracted from the file information data. The long-term hold file on the earliest file access date is searched for (step B35), the mail file is compressed (step B36), and the compression flag of the file information data 17 is rewritten to the file information data 17 as compression (step B37). The mail file 17 is compressed (Step B35), and if the actual disk usage rate is still higher (Step B38), the compression processing returns to Step B32 and is repeated.

Even if the long-term suspension file is compressed, the disk usage rate is still high (step B3).
3) The file information data 17 is sequentially searched again (step B39), and it is determined whether or not the file is a short-term hold open file having the maximum file size (B41), and the maximum file size is detected from the short-term hold open file. (Step B
41), the short-term-opened file opened on the earliest file access date is detected (step B42), the mail file is compressed (step B43), and the file information data 1 is read.
7, the file information data of the file information data 17 is rewritten with the compression flag of compression set as compression (step B4).
4). Compression of the mail file 17 (step B4
Perform 3), and if the actual disk usage rate is still higher (step B45), the process proceeds to step B39 to repeat the compression processing.

Finally, a warning message is output to the display of the client to inform the user of the compression (step B46), and the processing date is written on the last regular processing date of the control data 16 (step B47). Thus, the processing on the regular processing day ends.

The file decompression processing means 14 sequentially searches the file information data 17 by the file decompression processing 141 under the user's activation (step C11), and determines whether or not the file information data 17 contains the file information data. A determination is made (step C12), and it is determined whether or not there is a compressed mail file in the file information data (step C13), and the user is asked whether to delete the mail file for the compressed mail file. (Step C14), the input device 3
When deletion is designated by the operation of (1), deletion is performed (step C15). If the mail file is not to be deleted, the user is asked if the mail file should be decompressed (step C16), and if decompression is specified, decompression is performed (step C17). Thereafter, the process shifts to step C11 to repeat the file decompression process.

In the present embodiment, if a computer-readable storage medium that is programmed with an e-mail management method for receiving, storing and managing e-mails is created, other clients can use the same e-mail. Since the operation can be performed by the mail management method, it is possible to reduce the storage capacity by an efficient program with a global environment.

For example, according to the electronic mail management method stored in the recording medium, the program stores the electronic mail in the mail file 18 of the mail storage means, and performs a file arrival date check process on the mail file 18 into which the electronic mail is fetched. The arrival date of the e-mail is checked by 121 and the information of the e-mail and the arrival date are written in the file information data 17. Also, the mail file 1 serving as a deletion reference by the file access date check processing 122
The file access date of the e-mail 8 is checked, the file access date is written in the file information data 17, and the disk usage is periodically set in the control data 16 by the disk usage check process 131 for the mail file 18. A check is made between the rate and the actual disk usage rate, and the actual disk usage rate is stored in the control data 1.
If the disk usage rate exceeds 6, the file access date check process 132 checks the file access date of the mail file 18 serving as the deletion reference.
The check result is written in the file information data storage means.

Also, based on the file information data 17, the file normal deletion processing means 12 periodically checks the file access date to search for an invalid date file, and opens a long-term storage file having no deletion impossible flag. The file is searched, and the invalid date file having passed a predetermined period from the received date and time and the long-term storage opened file are deleted.

The above processes are output from the output device 4 to a packaged recording medium as a collective program. Alternatively, it is read from the packaged recording medium as an application program of the client and stored in the main memory, and the CPU 19 is operated according to the application program. Therefore, the above-described forced compression processing means 13 and the normal deletion processing means 12
The respective programs of the file decompression processing means 14, the various mail application processing means 15, and the file content changing means 11 are output from the output device as recording media. As this recording medium, a floppy disk, hard disk, MO, CD-R, DVD-RAM
Alternatively, the program may be output to a transmission line via the server 2 and downloaded and operated by another client.

[0054]

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, the operation of the present embodiment will be described by way of a specific example as an example. FIG. 5 shows a state diagram of the control data 16, a state diagram of the file information data 17, and a state diagram after the normal deletion processing unit 12 performs processing.

In FIG. 5A, the control data 16 includes a disk usage rate image set by the input device 3,
For example, 90% is set, and data is stored in which the file deletion period of a mail file that has not been normally designated for deletion is 31 days, and the date of the previous periodic processing is December 31, 1998. In FIG. 5B, the file information data 17 includes a file name, a mail file capacity (size), a mail arrival date sent by the sender to the server, and a sender's deletion date instruction. The file invalid date when sent, the file access date when the recipient client accessed the mail, the non-deletion flag indicating the status of prohibiting deletion, and the compression flag when compressing each file. Is stored in In addition,
The absence of the file access date in the file 5 indicates a state in which only the existence of the file is known but not yet opened. The file invalid date “99999999” is a mail file for which no invalid date is specified.

First, assuming that the processing date is January 1, 1999, the normal deletion processing means 12 reaches the file deletion period (31) of the file 4 mail that has reached the file invalidation date and the file of the control data 16. Then, the e-mail or the like of the opened file File1 in which the deletion impossible flag of the file information data 17 is not deletion impossible (1) is deleted. FIG. 5C shows a state of the file information data unit 17 after the normal deletion processing unit when the normal deletion processing unit 12 is executed.
As shown in FIG. 5C, File1 and File4 are deleted. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the forced compression process is required.

In the forced compression processing means 13, the actual disk usage rate is equal to the disk usage rate (90%) of the control data 16.
In this case, the file deletion period (31) of the control data file 16 has been reached, and File1, Fil in the order of the maximum file size and the oldest file access date.
In the order of e2, compression is performed until the disk usage rate becomes lower than 90%.

If the disk usage rate still exceeds 90%, the file deletion period (31) of the control data file 16 has not been reached, and the maximum file size and the oldest file among the opened mail files have been reached. The compression is performed in the order of File3 and File4, which are in the order of the access date. At the end of the forced compression processing means 13, the user is notified by a warning message that the compression processing has been performed.

The compressed mail file is deleted by the file decompression processing means 14 if it is unnecessary mail file, and is restored by decompression if it is necessary mail file.

Here, the determination of the unopened file is made based on whether the value of the file access date of the file information data 17 is set or not.

[0061]

According to the present invention, unnecessary files are deleted daily by deleting long-term storage opened files other than undeletable files and invalidated files, thereby securing disk resources. Can be.

When the disk usage exceeds the predetermined disk usage, the long-term storage file and the short-term storage opened file other than the non-deletable file are used in this order until the disk usage becomes lower than the predetermined disk usage. Since the file is compressed, the disk is prevented from being FULL.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a normal deletion processing unit of a client according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a forced compression processing unit of the client according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of file decompression processing means of the client according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a state diagram of various data of a client according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a system diagram of a conventional signal processing of an electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Client 2 Server 3 Input device 4 Output device 11 File content changing means 12 Normal deletion processing means 13 Compulsory compression processing means 14 File decompression processing means 15 Various mail application processing means 16 Control data 17 File information data 18 Mail file 19 CPU 31 Mail Box maintenance condition instruction unit 32 Mailbox maintenance unit 33 Automatic operation condition instruction unit 34 Automatic operation unit 35 Mailbox control unit 36 Mailbox file 111 Control processing 112 Deletion impossible processing 121 File arrival date check processing 122 File normal deletion processing 123 File access Date check processing 131 Access usage rate check processing 132 File forced compression processing 133 File access date check processing 141 File decompression processing Reason

Claims (8)

[Claims] In an e-mail management method for e-mail by a client terminal, a long-term storage opened file other than an invalid date file and an undeletable file for each e-mail is periodically stored from a disk resource storing a plurality of e-mails. An e-mail management system comprising a file deletion means for deleting, and compressing the undeletable file to secure the disk resource when a disk usage rate exceeds a preset disk usage rate. 2. The e-mail management system according to claim 1, wherein a deletion impossible flag is set for each e-mail of the disk resource, if necessary, so that the e-mail determined to be necessary by the user is set. An e-mail management method characterized by prohibiting automatic deletion. 3. An e-mail management system for e-mails by a client terminal, wherein when a disk resource for storing a plurality of said e-mails has a high usage rate and a high usage rate, a long-term storage file having a long storage period and a short-term storage file having a short storage period. An e-mail management system comprising a file compressing means for compressing a storage opened file, suppressing a disk usage rate within a predetermined range, and securing the disk resources. 4. The electronic mail management system according to claim 3, wherein a compression flag is set in the electronic mail for each electronic mail of the disk resource if necessary based on the usage rate of the disk resource. The user decompresses the compressed mail based on the necessity of the mail,
An e-mail management method that can be deleted. 5. A client system for receiving and processing an electronic mail, wherein the mail storage means for storing the electronic mail and the mail storage means for receiving the electronic mail are checked for the arrival date of the electronic mail. File information data storage means for writing the e-mail information and the arrival date by a file arrival date check process;
A file access date check process for checking the file access date of the e-mail in the mail storage unit serving as a deletion reference and writing the file access date; and a file normal data deletion process for storing the file information data An invalid date file having passed a predetermined period of the e-mail based on the file information data of the means, and a normal deletion processing means for deleting a long-term storage opened file having no undeletable flag; A client system for searching for the invalid date file by checking an access date. 6. The disk system according to claim 5, further comprising: a disk usage rate set in advance in a control data storage means by a disk usage rate check process for said mail storage means; And when the actual disk usage rate exceeds the disk usage rate of the control data storage means, the file access date check process performs the file access date of the mail storage means as the deletion reference. And a check result written in the file information data storage means. 7. The client system according to claim 5, further comprising: using a disk stored in the control data storage unit in the order of the long-term storage file and the short-term storage open file based on the file information data storage unit. A client system comprising a compulsory compression processing means for compressing a file until a ratio is satisfied. 8. A computer-readable storage medium programmed with an e-mail management method for receiving, storing and managing an e-mail, wherein the e-mail is stored in a mail storage means, and the e-mail is stored by taking in the e-mail. The means checks the arrival date of the e-mail by file arrival date check processing, writes the information of the e-mail and the arrival date in the file information data storage means, and becomes a deletion reference by the file access date check processing. The mail storage means checks the file access date of the e-mail, writes the file access date to the file information data storage means, and periodically controls the mail storage means by means of a disk usage check process. Disk usage rate set in storage means Checking with the actual disk usage rate, and when the actual disk usage rate exceeds the disk usage rate of the control data storage means, the file storage date check processing performs the deletion based on the mail storage means. The file access date is checked, the check result is written to the file information data storage unit, and the file access date is periodically checked based on the file information data in the file information data storage unit by a file normal deletion process. By searching for the invalid date file, and searching for a long-term storage opened file that does not have a flag that can not be deleted, the invalid date file after a predetermined period from the received date and time, and the long-term storage opened file Program an e-mail management method characterized by deletion A computer-readable storage medium characterized by the following.