JP2001188720A - Device and method for receiving electronic mail and storage medium and video game device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail receiving device for preventing the missing of any significant electronic mail. SOLUTION: In an electronic mail receiving device, access to a mail server is performed, and when any electronic mail to its own destination is present, the electronic mail to its own destination is received, and whether the received electronic mail is an electronic mail pertinent to a print request item is judged (steps S601-604). When the received electronic mail is pertinent to the print request item, the electronic mail is transferred to a print control part 205 and converted into print data by the print control part 205, and the print data are transmitted to a printing device 102 (steps S606-S608).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic mail receiving apparatus for receiving electronic mail, an electronic mail receiving method, a storage medium, and a video game apparatus incorporating the electronic mail receiving apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the exchange of electronic mail via the Internet has rapidly spread, and it is desired that a video game apparatus for displaying a game screen on a television be equipped with an electronic mail function. Then, a video game that can be added with an optional e-mail function has appeared. In such a video game device, an e-mail function is realized by adding a communication function device such as a modem card and a storage device such as a memory card. Here, the memory card is often used also as a memory for temporarily storing data such as game setting conditions and scores.

In the e-mail function of the video game apparatus thus configured, a modem card is connected to a telephone line, a contract provider having a mail account is accessed via the Internet, and a mail server in the provider is used to access the Internet. Receive the corresponding email via. Then, the received e-mail is stored in a memory card as needed.

[0004]

However, in the electronic mail function incorporated in the conventional video game device,
Since the memory card that stores received e-mails is also used as a memory for temporarily storing data such as game setting conditions and scores, the memory card may not have enough free space to store e-mails In some cases, you may not be able to save received emails. If the received e-mail cannot be stored in the memory card, the user may reinsert a memory card having a sufficient free space and access the provider again to receive the e-mail. If it is performed after the elapse, the provider may have already deleted the e-mail held in the mail server, and this e-mail may not be able to be stored and recorded. As a result, you may miss important emails.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail receiving apparatus capable of preventing an important electronic mail from being overlooked,
An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail receiving method, a storage medium, and a video game device.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail, holding means for holding a correspondence relationship between a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting printing of the e-mail and additional information of the e-mail, Based on the additional information and the correspondence held in the holding means,
And a print control unit configured to control the printing apparatus to print the electronic mail assigned to the print request item.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving apparatus of the first aspect, the additional information of the electronic mail is sender information indicating a sender of the electronic mail, and the holding unit stores the plurality of the plurality of electronic mails. The correspondence between the item and the sender information is maintained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in an electronic mail receiving apparatus for receiving an electronic mail, a storage means for detachably mounting a storage medium and storing the electronic mail in the mounted storage medium; Detecting means for detecting a state of attachment of a medium to the storage means, and upon receipt of the e-mail, whether the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage means based on a detection result of the detection means Determining means for determining whether the received electronic mail is stored in the storage medium by the storage means, and printing control means for controlling the received electronic mail to be printed by a printing apparatus. And characterized in that:

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving apparatus for receiving an electronic mail, a storage means for storing the electronic mail in a storage medium, a detection means for detecting the free space of the storage medium, A receiving unit configured to determine whether or not the received electronic mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage unit based on a detection result of the detection unit; And printing control means for controlling printing of the received e-mail by a printing device when storage in the storage medium is impossible.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving apparatus for receiving an electronic mail, a storage means for storing the electronic mail in a storage medium, a detection means for detecting the free space of the storage medium, Upon receiving the mail, determining means for determining whether or not the storage medium has a free space capable of storing the received electronic mail based on a detection result of the detection means, and storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium. When there is no free space that can be stored, a free area securing unit that secures a free area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium, and the received e-mail is stored in a free area that is reserved in the storage medium. Control means for controlling the storage means so as to perform the control.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving device according to the fifth aspect, the empty area securing means reads out at least one of the electronic mails stored in the storage medium; Print control means for controlling the printing of the read e-mail by the printing apparatus, and deleting means for deleting the read e-mail from the storage medium after the read e-mail is printed. .

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving apparatus of the sixth aspect, when the empty area securing means cannot secure an empty area capable of storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium. The printing control unit controls the received mail to be printed by the printing device.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method for receiving an electronic mail, a correspondence relationship between a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting printing of the electronic mail and the additional information of the electronic mail. Referring to the holding means for holding, allocating the received e-mail to a corresponding item based on the additional information of the received e-mail, and printing the e-mail allocated to the print request item by a printing device. And a control step.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method according to the eighth aspect, the additional information of the electronic mail is sender information indicating a sender of the electronic mail, and the holding unit stores the plurality of the plurality of electronic mails. The correspondence between the item and the sender information is maintained.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method for receiving an electronic mail, a step of detecting a mounting state of a storage medium for storing the electronic mail,
Receiving the electronic mail, determining whether the received electronic mail can be stored in the storage medium based on the detected mounting state of the storage medium, and storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium. And controlling the received e-mail to be printed by a printing device when storage of the received e-mail is not possible.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method for receiving an electronic mail, a step of detecting a free space in a storage medium for storing the electronic mail, Determining whether the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium based on the free space of the storage medium, and when the storage of the received e-mail in the storage medium is impossible, Controlling the received e-mail to be printed by a printing device.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method for receiving an electronic mail, a step of detecting a free space of a storage medium for storing the electronic mail, Determining whether or not the storage medium has a free space capable of storing the received electronic mail based on the free space of the storage medium,
When the storage medium does not have an empty space capable of storing the received e-mail, a step of securing an empty area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium, and a step of securing an empty area secured in the storage medium. Storing the received e-mail.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method according to the twelfth aspect, the securing of the empty area is
At least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium is read, and the read e-mail is controlled to be printed by a printing device. After the read e-mail is printed, the read e-mail is stored in the storage medium. It is characterized by performing by deleting from the medium.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail receiving method according to the thirteenth aspect, when it is not possible to secure an empty area for storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium, the received mail is deleted. The printing apparatus is controlled to perform printing.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in a storage medium storing a program for constructing an electronic mail receiving system for receiving an electronic mail on an information processing apparatus, the program requests printing of the electronic mail. A holding module that holds a correspondence relationship between a plurality of items including a print request item and the additional information of the email in a holding unit,
A sorting module for sorting the received e-mails into corresponding items based on the additional information of the received e-mails and the correspondence held in the holding means, and a printing device for sorting the e-mails sorted out to the print request items And a print control module for controlling the printing.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium according to the fifteenth aspect, the additional information of the e-mail is sender information indicating a sender of the e-mail, and the holding unit stores the plurality of items with the plurality of items. A correspondence relationship with the sender information is held.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, in a storage medium storing a program for constructing an electronic mail receiving system for receiving an electronic mail on an information processing apparatus, the program is stored in a removable storage medium. A storage module that stores an email, a detection module that detects a mounting state of the storage medium, and, when the electronic mail is received, the storage module stores the received electronic mail in the storage medium based on a detection result of the detection module. A determination module for determining whether storage of
When the storage module cannot store the received e-mail in the storage medium, a print control module that controls the received e-mail to be printed by a printing apparatus is provided.

The invention according to claim 18 is a storage medium storing a program for constructing an electronic mail receiving system for receiving an electronic mail on an information processing apparatus, wherein the program stores the electronic mail in the storage medium. A storage module, a detection module for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and receiving the electronic mail, storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium by the storage module based on a detection result of the detection module. A determination module for determining whether or not the received electronic mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage module; and a print control for printing the received electronic mail on a printing device. And a control module.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, in a storage medium storing a program for constructing an electronic mail receiving system for receiving an electronic mail on an information processing apparatus, the program stores the electronic mail in the storage medium. A storage module for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and a free space capable of storing the received email in the storage medium based on the detection result of the detection module when the electronic mail is received. A determination module for determining whether or not the storage medium has no free space capable of storing the received e-mail; and a free area reservation for securing a free area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium. A storage module for storing the received e-mail in an empty area secured in the storage medium. And having a control module for controlling the Le.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium according to the nineteenth aspect, the empty area securing module includes a reading module for reading at least one of the electronic mails stored in the storage medium; A print control module that controls the printing apparatus to print the mail, and a deletion module that deletes the read electronic mail from the storage medium after the read electronic mail is printed.

According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, in the storage medium according to the twentieth aspect, when the empty area securing module cannot secure an empty area capable of storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium, The print control module controls the received mail to be printed by the printing device.

According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, in the video game device in which an electronic mail receiving device for receiving an electronic mail is incorporated, the electronic mail receiving device includes a print request item for requesting printing of the electronic mail. Holding means for holding a correspondence relationship between a plurality of items and the additional information of the e-mail, and corresponding to the received e-mail based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding means And a print control unit that controls the printing apparatus to print the electronic mail assigned to the print request item.

According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, in the video game device according to the twenty-second aspect, the additional information of the electronic mail is sender information indicating a sender of the electronic mail,
The storage unit stores the correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information.

According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, in the video game device in which an e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail is incorporated, the e-mail receiving device detachably mounts a storage medium and transmits the e-mail. Storage means for storing the storage medium in the mounted storage medium, detection means for detecting a mounting state of the storage medium in the storage means, and upon receipt of the e-mail, the storage means based on a detection result of the detection means Determining means for determining whether or not the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium; and when the storage means cannot store the received e-mail in the storage medium, the received e-mail is received. Print control means for controlling the printing of the e-mail by the printing apparatus.

According to a twenty-fifth aspect of the present invention, in the video game device in which the electronic mail receiving device for receiving the electronic mail is incorporated, the electronic mail receiving device stores the electronic mail in a storage medium; Detecting means for detecting the free space of the storage medium, upon receiving the e-mail, determining whether or not the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage means based on a detection result of the detecting means; A determination unit; and a print control unit configured to control the storage device to print the received e-mail with a printing device when the received e-mail cannot be stored in the storage medium. It is characterized by the following.

According to a twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, in the video game device in which the electronic mail receiving device for receiving the electronic mail is incorporated, the electronic mail receiving device stores the electronic mail in a storage medium; Detecting means for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and upon receiving the e-mail, determining whether the storage medium has a free space capable of storing the received e-mail based on a detection result of the detecting means Determination means for determining whether the storage medium has no free space for storing the received e-mail, and free space securing means for securing a free area for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium; Control means for controlling the storage means so as to store the received e-mail in a vacant area secured on a medium.

According to a twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, in the video game device according to the twenty-sixth aspect, the empty area securing means comprises:
Reading means for reading at least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium; print control means for controlling the read e-mail to be printed by a printing device; and Deletion means for deleting the read electronic mail from the storage medium.

According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, in the video game device according to the twenty-seventh aspect, when the empty area securing means cannot secure an empty area capable of storing the received electronic mail in the storage medium, The print control unit controls the received mail to be printed by the printing device.

[0034]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video game apparatus in which an electronic mail receiving apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is incorporated, and FIG. 2 is incorporated in the video game apparatus of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are front views of the main body of the video game apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main body of the video game apparatus shown in FIG. It is.

The video game device, as shown in FIG.
An apparatus main body 101 is provided. The apparatus main body 101 is connected to a display device 103 such as a television via a cable 105, and is connected to a printing apparatus 102 via a cable 104. The apparatus main body 101 is provided with a PC card slot and two memory cards (not shown), and a modem card (PCMCIA compliant card) 106 connected to a telephone line is mounted in the PC card slot. The memory card 10 is inserted in the card slot.
7 is attached.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the front of the apparatus main body 101, a tray type disk mounting section 3, a power switch 5 for turning on / off the power to the apparatus, and a disk mounted on the disk mounting section 3. A disk operation switch 6 operated at the time of attachment / detachment is provided. On the left side of the disk mounting section 3, two connecting sections 7 for connecting an operating device (hereinafter, controller; shown in FIG. 4) 17 are provided.
a, 7b, and two slots 38a, 38b for mounting a memory card. In the present embodiment, the disc mounting unit 3 is constituted by a DVD-ROM drive capable of reading DVDROM and CDROM. A controller 17 is connected to at least one of the connection sections 7a and 7b, and by operating the controller 17, an input operation can be performed on the game screen displayed on the display device 103. I have.

As shown in FIG. 4, the controller 17 has operation units 18 and 24 provided with a plurality of operation keys.
And a pair of support portions 20 provided on the operation portions 18 and 24 and capable of being supported by left and right hands. The plurality of keys provided on the operation unit 24 can be operated with the left and right index fingers of the support unit 20, and the plurality of keys provided on the operation unit 18 can be operated by the left and right hands having the support unit 20. The operation unit 18 includes a start key 23 for instructing a start of a game, etc., a reset key (not shown), and the like. Controller 1
A cable 27 is connected to 7, and a connection terminal 26 that can be connected to the connection portion 7 b (7 a) is provided at an end of the cable 27.

Further, FIG.
As shown in the figure, two USB (Universal Serial Bus)
Ports 4a and 4b, an IEEE1394 port 8 and a PC card slot (PCMCIA type III) 9 are provided. In the present embodiment, the printing apparatus 102 is connected to one of the USB ports 4a and 4b.

In the internal configuration of the apparatus main body 101, as shown in FIG. 5, a main CPU (Main CPU) 507 is mounted, and the main CPU 507 performs various processes via a 128-bit main bus (Main Bus) 505. Execute.
The main CPU 507 reads out programs and data for performing various processes from the DVDROM and the CDROM through the main memory 504 and the DVDROM drive 501 as needed, and executes them. The core of the main CPU 507 is 2
It comprises one integer operation unit (not shown), a floating point operation unit 506, a plurality of cache memories (not shown), and the like. The main bus 505 has two vector operation engines 508 and 509 (Vect
or Processing Unit 1, 2) and IPU (Image Proce
ssing Unit) 503 is connected. The vector operation engine 508 is mainly used as a core processor of the main CPU 507.
Used to perform various calculations on the graphics side.

The IPU 503 is an arithmetic engine mainly used for decoding MPEG-2 (data expansion). After the decoding process, the data is greatly increased. In order to prevent the main bus 505 from being compressed during data transfer,
A mechanism for instantly compressing the data and passing it to the vector operation engine 509 is configured. In addition, IPU503
Performs color space conversion and vector quantization in addition to MPEG-2 decoding. The compressed data transferred via the main bus 505 is decompressed by the instantaneous decompression mechanism of the vector operation engine 509.

The main bus 505 includes a main CPU 50.
7 as well as a main memory (Main Mem
ory) 504, main DMA (Direct Memory Access Co)
ntroller) 502 and a GPU I / F 510 are connected, and the GPU I / F 510 is a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) 51 that operates as a rendering processor.
1 is connected. Main memory 504 is Direct RDRAM
(RAM bus DRAM), and the main memory 504 includes:
Various programs, data, and the like are stored as appropriate. The main DMA 502 transfers data on the memory 504 to the GPU I / F 510 via the main bus 505.

The GPU 511 has a CRTC (CRT Controll).
er) 512 and the like to constitute a graphic synthesizer function. The GPU 511 is a PKE (Programmable
An unpacket processing unit based on a packet engine, an arithmetic processing unit that processes data corresponding to a program, and a drawing unit. The drawing unit interprets the drawing command supplied from the arithmetic processing unit, and calculates the color data of the vertices and the Z representing the depth.
A process (rendering process) of writing pixel data to a frame memory 513 is performed in consideration of all pixels and colors constituting a polygon (a basic unit figure such as a triangle or a quadrangle) from the value.

The CRTC 512 is in charge of display display, and its output to the display device 103 is NTSC (Nati
onal Television Standards Committee) method and PAL
(Phase Alternation by Line) method and DTV (D
igital Television). The screen size is 1280 × 1024 dots at maximum.

The main bus 505 includes a main bus 505.
A slower 32-bit width Sub Bus is connected via a Sub Bus I / F 514. The sub bus 519 includes a sub CPU (Sub CPU) 51.
6, Sub ROM (Sub ROM) 518, Sub RAM (Sub R)
AM) 517 and a sub DMA (Sub DMA) 515 are connected, and various I / Os including a USB port, an IEEE1394 port, a PC card slot, a DVD-ROM drive 501, and the like for connecting the printing apparatus 102 and the like.
O port is connected. The sub CPU 516 converts the received e-mail into print data, and converts the print data into the printing device 1 via the USB port, as described later.
02, and performs various controls such as receiving an e-mail via the modem card 106 and storing the received e-mail in the memory card 107. The sub CPU 516 controls the DVD-ROM drive 501 in response to the operation of the controller 17,
The DVD ROM or the CD ROM is reproduced, and the reproduced data is temporarily stored in the sub RAM 517. Further, the sub CPU 516 stores various programs corresponding to flowcharts described below in the sub ROM 518,
DVDROM, CDR inserted into DVDROM501
It is read from the OM or the like and executed.

Next, the DV mounted on the disk mounting unit 3
A procedure for reproducing a DROM or a CDROM and displaying it on the display device 103 will be described.

The controller 17 is controlled by the sub CPU 516.
The DVD-ROM drive 501 is controlled in response to the above operation, and the DVDROM or CDROM is reproduced. The data reproduced from the DVDROM or CDROM is temporarily stored in the sub-RAM 517 and then DMA-transferred to the main memory 504 via the sub-bus I / F 514. The main CPU 507 reads data from the main memory 504, performs an operation, and defines a three-dimensional model to be displayed on the display device 103 as a combination of polygons based on the operation result. Then, the main CPU 507 creates a drawing command corresponding to each polygon for drawing a three-dimensional image, and transfers the drawing command to the GPU 511 as a command packet.

In the GPU 511, the transferred drawing command is unpacketized and stored in the local memory. The GPU 511 interprets the drawing command and creates a command for drawing the polygon by interpolating and generating an intermediate vertex from the vertex of the polygon. Then, in response to the rendering command, a rendering process of rendering the pixel data in the frame memory 513 is executed in consideration of the color data of the vertices of the polygon and the Z value indicating the depth. The drawing unit of the GPU 511 also reads out the pixel data drawn in the frame memory 513 and outputs this data to the display device 103 via the CRTC 512. With this, DVDRO
The data reproduced from the M or CD ROM is displayed on the display device 1.
03 is displayed.

Next, the configuration of the e-mail receiving device incorporated in the present video game device will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the e-mail receiving device includes an e-mail control unit 202. The e-mail control unit 202 includes a receiving unit 201 that receives an e-mail via the modem card 106. The e-mail received by the receiving unit 201 is transmitted to the e-mail distribution control unit 203.
Is assigned to each item set in advance. Here, the e-mail includes a header part in which information such as a subject, an incoming date and time, a sender e-mail address, a destination e-mail address, and the like, and a body part in which a document and the like are described,
By associating each set item with the information described in the header in advance, the e-mail can be classified for each item. One of these items is a print request item that requests printing. For example, if the sender's e-mail address is associated with the print request item, the e-mail of this e-mail address is sorted to the print request item. become.

The result of the sorting is displayed in the display control unit 2.
04 to the CRTC 512 and the CRTC 512
Is displayed on the display device 103. At the same time, all the e-mails sorted for each item are stored in the attached memory card 107. The e-mails allocated to the print request items in the e-mails allocated to the respective items are sent to the print control unit 205. The print control unit 205 performs print control for converting the electronic mail into print data and transferring the print data to the printing apparatus 102 via a USB port. Thereby, the printing apparatus 102
, An electronic mail is printed based on the transferred print data.

Here, the electronic mail reception control section 202
Is configured functionally, that is, in a software manner by the sub CPU 516. Similarly, the print control unit 205
16 constitutes software.

Next, an e-mail receiving process by the e-mail receiving device will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an e-mail receiving process by the e-mail receiving device of FIG.

In the e-mail receiving process, as shown in FIG. 6, first, in step S601, the mail server is accessed. In the following step S602, it is determined whether or not there is a mail addressed to the user based on the access result. If there is no e-mail addressed to this process, the process ends. In contrast,
If there is an e-mail addressed to the user, the process proceeds to step S603, the e-mail addressed to the user is fetched, and the process proceeds to step S6.
At 04, it is determined whether the received e-mail is an e-mail corresponding to the print request item.

If the received e-mail is an e-mail corresponding to the print request item, the flow advances to step S606 to transfer the e-mail to the print control unit 205, and in step S607, the e-mail is printed by the print control unit 205. Then, the print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus 102 in step S608.

Next, the process proceeds to step S605, where a distribution process is performed. Here, the e-mail already distributed as the print request item is also distributed again. Then, the process proceeds to step S609, where the sorted e-mail is stored in the memory card 107, and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S604 that the received e-mail is not an e-mail corresponding to the print request item, the flow advances to step S605 to perform a sorting process. Here, the e-mail is already sorted into items other than the print request item. Then, step S6
In step 09, the distributed e-mail is stored in the memory card 107, and the process ends.

As described above, by setting the additional information (here, the e-mail address of the sender) of the header of the e-mail in association with the print request item, the e-mail of the sender corresponding to the print request item is automatically set. Printing device 1
02 is printed out, so even if there is no free space for storing e-mails on the memory card, or if the user forgets to store e-mails, the sender's e-mails that the user deems necessary should be printed out. The important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

Further, by further subdividing the print request items, the e-mail corresponding to the print request items can be further subdivided and stored by the sorting process after printing the printed e-mail. For example, the senders A and B are associated with the print request items, and the sender A,
If the setting is made so that each of Mr. B is stored as an individual file, the e-mails of each of the senders A and B can be printed out and can be individually stored in the memory card 107 as files. In addition, by storing the information in an individual file, management becomes easy.

Further, by providing a priority item for the print item, it is possible to read out the e-mail in the memory card 107 preferentially and perform a process, for example, a print process. You can read it.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an e-mail receiving process in the second embodiment of the e-mail receiving device of the present invention. This embodiment constitutes an e-mail receiving device incorporated in a video game device, as in the first embodiment described above.

This embodiment is different from the above-described first embodiment in that when an e-mail is received, the installed state of the memory card 107 is detected, and when the memory card 107 is not installed, the received e-mail is transmitted. The print data is converted into print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 102, and the print data is
The difference is that print processing for transferring to the printing apparatus 102 via a port is performed. When the memory card 107 is inserted and there is no free space in the memory card 107, the received e-mail is converted into print data printable by the printing apparatus 102, and the print data is converted via the USB port. A printing process to be transferred to the printing device 102 is performed.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, first, in step S701, the mail server is accessed. In step S702, it is determined whether or not there is a mail addressed to the user based on the access result. If there is no e-mail, the process ends. On the other hand, if there is an e-mail addressed to the user, the process proceeds to step S703 to capture the e-mail addressed to the user, and in a succeeding step S704, it is determined whether or not the memory card 107 is inserted.

If the memory card 107 is not inserted, the flow advances to step S707 to transfer the received e-mail to the print control unit 205, and then to step S708.
Then, the print control unit 205 converts the e-mail into print data, and in step S709, transmits the print data to the printing apparatus 102, and ends the processing.

If it is determined in step S704 that the memory card 107 is mounted, the process proceeds to step S705, where the memory card 10
Then, it is determined whether or not there is a free space capable of storing the received e-mail. When there is no free space for storing the received e-mail in the attached memory card 107,
In step S707, the received electronic mail is transferred to the print control unit 205. In step S708, the electronic mail is converted into print data by the print control unit 205, and in step S709, the print data is
And the process ends.

On the other hand, the inserted memory card 107
If there is free space available for storing the received e-mail, the process proceeds to step S706 to perform the sorting process. Here, the received e-mail is sorted into the corresponding items among the preset items. Then, Step S71
Go to 0 and save the sorted e-mail to memory card 1
07, and the process ends.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the memory card 107 is not inserted, or when the memory card 107 is inserted but there is no free space, the received e-mail can be printed by the printing apparatus 102. Since the print processing is performed by converting the print data into the appropriate print data and transferring the print data to the printing apparatus 102 via the USB port, the sender's e-mail that the user considers necessary can be reliably recorded as a print output.

(Third Embodiment) Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an e-mail receiving process in the third embodiment of the e-mail receiving apparatus of the present invention. This embodiment constitutes an e-mail receiving device incorporated in a video game device, as in the first embodiment described above.

This embodiment is different from the above-described first embodiment in that when an e-mail is received, the free space of the inserted memory card 107 is detected and this memory card 10
7 is that when there is no available free space for storing the received e-mail, an empty area capable of storing the received e-mail is secured in the memory card 107 and the received e-mail is stored in the secured empty area. . Here, the securing of the free space in the memory card 107
Read at least one of the emails stored in
This is performed by printing the read e-mail and erasing the read e-mail after the print processing for the read e-mail is completed.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, first, in step S801, the mail server is accessed. In step S802, it is determined whether or not there is a mail addressed to the user based on the access result. If there is no e-mail, the process ends. On the other hand, if there is an e-mail addressed to the user, the process proceeds to step S803 to fetch the e-mail addressed to the user. In the subsequent step S804, the free space capable of storing the received e-mail in the attached memory card 107 is increased. It is determined whether or not there is.

If there is not enough free space to store the received e-mail in the memory card 107 mounted, the flow advances to step S806 to read the oldest e-mail from the e-mails already stored in the memory card 107. . In step S807, the read e-mail is transferred to the print control unit 205. In step S808, the e-mail is converted by the print control unit 205 into print data. Send to Next, step S8
Go to step 10 and send the read e-mail to memory card 10
7, and returns to the above 804, where it is again determined whether or not the free space for storing the received e-mail in the inserted memory card 107 has been secured. If there is not enough free space to store the received e-mail on the attached memory card 107, the memory card 107
The next old e-mail is read from, printed, and deleted. This series of operations is repeatedly executed until a free space capable of storing the received e-mail in the memory card 107 is secured. Then, the inserted memory card 10
When the free space for storing the received e-mail is secured in step 7, the process proceeds to step S805.

In step S805, a distribution process is performed. Here, the received e-mail is sorted into the corresponding items among the preset items. Then, the process proceeds to step S811 to store the sorted e-mail in the memory card 107, and ends the processing.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the inserted memory card 107 has no free space, the e-mail stored in the memory card 107 is read, and this e-mail is printed by the printing apparatus 102. The print data is converted to data, and the print data is transferred to the printing apparatus 102 via the USB port. The print processing is performed, and the e-mail read after the print processing is deleted from the memory card 107 to thereby store the received e-mail. To ensure that the received e-mail is
7, and the read out old e-mail can be reliably recorded as a printed output.

In the present embodiment, when there is no free space in the inserted memory card 107, the e-mail stored in the memory card 107 is read, and the e-mail is deleted from the memory card 107 after the printing process. The storage area of the received e-mail is secured, but if the storage area of the e-mail received on the memory card 107 cannot be secured by the above processing, the print data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 102 If the print data is converted to the print data and the print data is transferred to the printing apparatus 102, the received e-mail can be recorded as a print output.

In each of the above embodiments, FIGS.
The program corresponding to the flowchart of FIG. 8 may be stored in an internal storage medium (such as sub-ROM 518) or may be stored in an external storage medium (such as DVDROM or CDROM). The object of the present invention is achieved by reading and executing this program by the CPU, and the storage medium storing the program constitutes the present invention. This program may be distributed via a network. At this time, since the program itself implements the above-described embodiment, a sending device that sends out the program constitutes the present invention.

[0076]

As described above, according to the electronic mail receiving apparatus of the present invention, the correspondence between a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting the printing of an electronic mail and the additional information of the electronic mail is held. Holding means, sorting means for sorting the received e-mail to the corresponding item based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding means, and printing the e-mail sorted to the print request item Since it has print control means that controls the device as if it were a device, the sender's e-mail that the user deems necessary can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and important e-mails can be prevented from being overlooked. it can.

Further, the additional information of the e-mail is sender information indicating the sender of the e-mail. Since the holding unit holds the correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information, the sender information is added to the print request item. By associating, the received e-mail can be easily sorted to the print request item.

According to the e-mail receiving apparatus of the present invention, the storage means for detachably mounting the storage medium, storing the e-mail in the mounted storage medium, and detecting the mounting state of the storage medium to the storage means. Detecting means for receiving the e-mail, determining whether or not the e-mail received by the storage means can be stored in the storage medium based on the detection result of the detecting means; and When storage in the storage medium is not possible, since a print control unit that controls the received e-mail to be printed by the printing apparatus is provided, even in a state in which storage in the storage medium is impossible,
The e-mail can be reliably recorded on the record as a printed output, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the e-mail receiving device of the present invention, the storage means for storing the e-mail in the storage medium, the detection means for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and the detection result of the detection means when the e-mail is received. Determining means for determining whether the storage means can store the received e-mail in the storage medium based on the storage means; and determining whether or not the storage means can store the received e-mail in the storage medium. And a print control unit that controls the printing apparatus to print the data, so that even when the data cannot be stored in the storage medium,
The e-mail can be reliably recorded on the record as a printed output, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the e-mail receiving apparatus of the present invention, the storage means for storing the e-mail in the storage medium, the detection means for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and the detection result of the detection means when the e-mail is received, Determining means for determining whether there is free space available for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium based on the received e-mail in the storage medium when there is no free space available for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium Since there is provided an empty area securing unit that secures an empty area capable of storing therein, and a control unit that controls the storing unit to store the received e-mail in the empty area secured in the storage medium,
The received e-mail can be reliably stored in the storage medium, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

Further, the free area securing means includes: reading means for reading at least one of the electronic mails stored in the storage medium; print control means for controlling the read out electronic mail to be printed by a printing apparatus; Since there is a deletion means for deleting the read e-mail from the storage medium after the e-mail print processing, the old e-mail read to ensure the free space of the storage medium is securely recorded as a print output. Can be.

Further, when the empty area securing means cannot secure an empty area in which the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium, the print control means controls the received mail to be printed by the printing apparatus. Even when the free space cannot be secured in the storage medium, the received e-mail can be reliably recorded as a print output.

According to the e-mail receiving method of the present invention, the receiving unit refers to the holding unit that holds the correspondence between the plurality of items including the print request item requesting the printing of the e-mail and the additional information of the e-mail. The method includes the steps of: sorting the received e-mail into corresponding items based on the additional information of the received e-mail; and controlling the printing apparatus to print the e-mail allocated to the print request item. The sender's e-mail, which he / she considers to be, can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and important e-mails can be prevented from being overlooked.

Further, the additional information of the e-mail is sender information indicating the sender of the e-mail, and the holding unit holds the correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information, so that the sender information is included in the print request item. , The received e-mail can be easily sorted into the print request items.

According to the electronic mail receiving method of the present invention, the step of detecting the mounting state of the storage medium for storing the electronic mail, and the step of receiving the electronic mail, the electronic mail received based on the detected mounting state of the storage medium. Determining whether the mail can be stored in the storage medium; and, if the storage of the received e-mail is not possible, controlling the received e-mail to be printed by the printing device. Thus, even in a state where the electronic mail cannot be stored in the storage medium, the electronic mail can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and an important electronic mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the e-mail receiving method of the present invention, the step of detecting the free space of the storage medium for storing the e-mail, and the step of receiving the e-mail based on the detected free space of the storage medium A step of determining whether the mail can be stored in the storage medium; and, if the storage of the received email is not possible in the storage medium, controlling the printing apparatus to print the received email. Since the method includes the steps, even in a state where the e-mail cannot be stored in the storage medium, the e-mail can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the electronic mail receiving method of the present invention, the step of detecting the free space of the storage medium for storing the electronic mail, and the step of receiving the electronic mail, the step of detecting the free space in the storage medium based on the detected free space of the storage medium. Determining whether there is a free space capable of storing the received e-mail; and, if there is no free space capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium, the storage medium is capable of storing the received e-mail. Since the step of securing the area and the step of storing the received e-mail in the empty area secured in the storage medium, the received e-mail can be reliably stored in the storage medium,
Important emails can be prevented from being overlooked.

In order to secure the empty area, at least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium is read, and the read e-mail is controlled to be printed by a printing apparatus. The deletion is performed by deleting the read e-mail from the storage medium.
The old e-mail read out to secure the free space of the storage medium can be reliably recorded as a print output.

Further, when it is not possible to secure an empty area for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium,
Since the received mail is controlled so as to be printed by the printing apparatus, the received e-mail can be reliably recorded as a print output even when the free space cannot be secured in the storage medium.

According to the storage medium of the present invention, the program comprises: a holding module for holding in the holding means a correspondence between a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting the printing of an e-mail and the additional information of the e-mail; A sorting module that sorts the received e-mail to the corresponding item based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding unit, and prints the e-mail sorted to the print request item by the printing device And a print control module that performs control as described above, the sender's e-mail that the user deems necessary can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

The additional information of the e-mail is sender information indicating the sender of the e-mail. Since the holding unit holds the correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information, the sender information is added to the print request item. By associating, the received e-mail can be easily sorted to the print request item.

According to the storage medium of the present invention, the program includes a storage module for storing an electronic mail in a removable storage medium, a detection module for detecting a mounted state of the storage medium, and a detection module for receiving the electronic mail. A determination module that determines whether the storage module can store the received e-mail on the storage medium based on the detection result of the storage module, and when the storage module cannot store the received e-mail on the storage medium, Since the printer has a print control module for controlling the received e-mail to be printed by the printing device, even if the e-mail cannot be stored in the storage medium, the e-mail can be securely recorded as a printout, and the important e-mail can be recorded. Can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the storage medium of the present invention, the program includes a storage module for storing the electronic mail in the storage medium, a detection module for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and a detection result of the detection module when the electronic mail is received. A determination module that determines whether the storage module can store the received e-mail in the storage medium based on the
A print control module for controlling the printing device to print the received e-mail when the e-mail received by the storage module cannot be stored in the storage medium; However, the e-mail can be reliably recorded on the record as a printed output, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the storage medium of the present invention, the program includes a storage module for storing the electronic mail in the storage medium, a detection module for detecting the free space of the storage medium, and a detection result of the detection module when the electronic mail is received. A determination module for determining whether or not there is free space available for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium based on the electronic mail received in the storage medium when there is no free space available for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium Since it has an empty area securing module that secures an empty area where mail can be stored, and a control module that controls the storage module to store the received e-mail in the empty area secured on the storage medium,
The received e-mail can be reliably stored in the storage medium, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

The empty area securing module includes a read module for reading at least one of the electronic mails stored in the storage medium, a print control module for controlling the read electronic mail to be printed by a printing apparatus, and a read control module for reading the read electronic mail. A deletion module that deletes the read e-mail from the storage medium after the e-mail print processing is included, so that the old e-mail read to ensure free space on the storage medium is securely recorded as a print output. Can be.

When the empty area securing module cannot secure an empty area capable of storing the received e-mail on the storage medium, the print control module controls the received mail to be printed by the printing apparatus. Even when free space cannot be secured on the medium, the received e-mail can be reliably recorded as a print output.

According to the video game device of the present invention, the e-mail receiving device holds the correspondence between a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting e-mail printing and the additional information of the e-mail. Based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding unit, a distribution unit that distributes the received e-mail to the corresponding item, and an e-mail allocated to the print request item by the printing apparatus. Since print control means for controlling printing is provided, the sender's e-mail that the user deems necessary can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and important e-mails can be prevented from being overlooked. .

Further, the additional information of the e-mail is sender information indicating the sender of the e-mail. Since the holding unit holds the correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information, the sender information is added to the print request item. By associating, the received e-mail can be easily sorted to the print request item.

According to the video game device of the present invention, the storage means for detachably mounting the storage medium and storing the e-mail in the mounted storage medium, and the detecting means for detecting the mounting state of the storage medium in the storage means Means for receiving the e-mail, determining means for determining whether the storage means can store the received e-mail in the storage medium based on the detection result of the detection means, and storing the received e-mail in the storage means When it is impossible to store the data in the storage medium, the print control unit controls the received electronic mail to be printed by the printing apparatus.
The e-mail can be reliably recorded on the record as a printed output, and an important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the video game device of the present invention, the storage means for storing the e-mail in the storage medium, the detection means for detecting the free space of the storage medium,
Determining means for determining whether the storage means can store the received e-mail on the storage medium based on the detection result of the detection means, and storage of the received e-mail on the storage medium by the storage means is not possible Sometimes, since a print control unit that controls the received e-mail to be printed by the printing device is provided, even in a state where the e-mail cannot be stored in the storage medium, the e-mail can be reliably recorded as a printed output, and
Important emails can be prevented from being overlooked.

According to the video game device of the present invention, the storage means for storing the e-mail in the storage medium, the detection means for detecting the free space of the storage medium,
Determining means for determining whether there is free space available for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium based on the detection result of the detection means; Since there is provided an empty area securing means for securing an empty area capable of storing the e-mail received on the medium, and a control means for controlling the storing means to store the received e-mail in the empty area secured on the storage medium. In addition, the received e-mail can be reliably stored in the storage medium, and the important e-mail can be prevented from being overlooked.

Further, the vacant area securing means includes: reading means for reading at least one of the electronic mails stored in the storage medium; print control means for controlling the read electronic mail to be printed by a printing apparatus; Since there is a deletion means for deleting the read e-mail from the storage medium after the e-mail print processing, the old e-mail read to ensure the free space of the storage medium is securely recorded as a print output. Can be.

Further, if the empty area securing means cannot secure an empty area in which the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium, the print control means controls the received mail to be printed by the printing apparatus. Even when the free space cannot be secured in the storage medium, the received e-mail can be reliably recorded as a print output.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a video game device in which a first embodiment of an e-mail receiving device of the present invention is incorporated.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an e-mail receiving device incorporated in the video game device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an apparatus main body of the video game apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a device main body of the video game device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus main body of the video game apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an e-mail receiving process by the e-mail receiving device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of an e-mail receiving process according to the second embodiment of the e-mail receiving apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of an e-mail receiving process according to a third embodiment of the e-mail receiving apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 apparatus main body 102 printing apparatus 106 modem card 107 memory card 201 e-mail receiving section 202 e-mail control section 203 e-mail sorting section 204 display control section 205 print control section 516 sub CPU

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C001 CB00 CB01 CB02 CB03 CB08 CC00 CC02 CC07 DA00 DA06 5B021 AA01 AA02 AA30 BB01 DD19 5B089 GA21 GA23 JA09 JA31 KA04 KC34 KC51 KC59 LA11 LA14 LB12 5K030 GA17 HA06 H06 B0617 BZ03 JJ14 JJ25 JJ27 JJ35 JJ76 KK42

Claims (28)

[Claims] An e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail, a holding unit for holding a correspondence relationship between a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting printing of the e-mail and additional information of the e-mail; A sorting unit that sorts the received e-mail to a corresponding item based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding unit, and a printing device that sorts the e-mail sorted to the print request item An electronic mail receiving apparatus, comprising: a print control unit that controls printing by using the electronic mail. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the additional information of the electronic mail is sender information indicating a sender of the electronic mail, and the holding unit holds a correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information. The electronic mail receiving device according to claim 1. 3. An e-mail receiving apparatus for receiving an e-mail, a storage means for detachably mounting a storage medium, and storing the e-mail in the mounted storage medium;
Detecting means for detecting a state of attachment of the storage medium to the storage means, and upon receiving the e-mail, storing the received e-mail in the storage medium by the storage means based on a detection result of the detection means. Determining means for determining whether or not possible, and when it is impossible to store the received e-mail in the storage medium by the storage means,
A print control unit that controls the printing apparatus to print the received e-mail. 4. An e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail, a storage means for storing the e-mail in a storage medium, a detection means for detecting an empty capacity of the storage medium,
Upon receiving the electronic mail, determining means for determining whether or not the received electronic mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storing means based on a detection result of the detecting means; and An e-mail receiving apparatus, comprising: a print control unit that controls the printing apparatus to print the received e-mail when the e-mail cannot be stored in the storage medium. 5. An e-mail receiving apparatus for receiving an e-mail, a storage means for storing the e-mail in a storage medium, a detection means for detecting an empty capacity of the storage medium,
Upon receiving the electronic mail, determining means for determining whether or not the storage medium has a free space capable of storing the received electronic mail based on a detection result of the detecting means; and When there is no free space available for storing the mail, a free area securing means for securing a free area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium; and the received e-mail in the free area secured in the storage medium. Control means for controlling the storage means so as to store the e-mail. 6. A reading device for reading at least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium, and a print control device for controlling the read e-mail to be printed by a printing apparatus. 6. The e-mail receiving apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: a deletion unit configured to delete the read e-mail from the storage medium after printing the read e-mail. 7. When the empty area securing means cannot secure an empty area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium, the print control means prints the received e-mail on the printing device. 7. The electronic mail receiving apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the electronic mail receiving apparatus is controlled to perform the processing. 8. An e-mail receiving method for receiving an e-mail, wherein a holding unit that holds a correspondence between a plurality of items including a print request item requesting printing of the e-mail and the additional information of the e-mail is referred to. And distributing the received e-mail to the corresponding item based on the additional information of the received e-mail, and controlling to print the e-mail allocated to the print request item by a printing apparatus. An e-mail receiving method, comprising: 9. The additional information of the electronic mail is sender information indicating a sender of the electronic mail, and the holding unit holds a correspondence relationship between the plurality of items and the sender information. The electronic mail receiving method according to claim 8. 10. An e-mail receiving method for receiving an e-mail, the method comprising: detecting a mounting state of a storage medium for storing the e-mail; and, upon receiving the e-mail, mounting the detected storage medium. Determining whether or not the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium based on the state; and when the storage of the received e-mail in the storage medium is impossible, the received e-mail Controlling the printing of the e-mail by a printing apparatus. 11. An e-mail receiving method for receiving an e-mail, wherein the step of detecting the free space of a storage medium for storing the e-mail, and the step of detecting the free space of the detected storage medium when the e-mail is received. Determining whether or not the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium based on, and when it is not possible to store the received e-mail in the storage medium, the received e-mail is Controlling the printing by the printing device. 12. An e-mail receiving method for receiving an e-mail, the method comprising: detecting a free space of a storage medium for storing the e-mail; and receiving the e-mail; A step of determining whether or not the storage medium has a free space capable of storing the received e-mail based on the capacity, and when there is no free space capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium,
E-mail having a step of securing an empty area in which the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium and a step of storing the received e-mail in an empty area secured in the storage medium Receiving method. 13. The method according to claim 13, wherein at least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium is read, and the read e-mail is controlled to be printed by a printing apparatus. 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the reading is performed by deleting the read e-mail from the storage medium after the printing process. 14. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when it is not possible to secure an empty area in which said received e-mail can be stored in said storage medium, said printing apparatus prints said received e-mail. 13. The e-mail receiving method according to item 13. 15. A storage medium storing a program for constructing an electronic mail receiving system for receiving an electronic mail on an information processing apparatus, wherein the program includes a plurality of print request items for requesting printing of the electronic mail. And a holding module for holding the correspondence between the item and the additional information of the e-mail in the holding means, and the received e-mail based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding means. And a print control module that controls the printing apparatus to print the e-mails allocated to the print request items. 16. The additional information of the e-mail is sender information indicating a sender of the e-mail, and the holding unit holds a correspondence between the plurality of items and the sender information. The storage medium according to claim 15. 17. A storage medium storing a program for constructing an electronic mail receiving system for receiving an electronic mail on an information processing apparatus, wherein the program is a storage module for storing the electronic mail in a removable storage medium. A detection module for detecting the mounting state of the storage medium, and, upon receiving the e-mail, whether the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage module based on a detection result of the detection module. A determination module for determining whether the storage module stores the received e-mail in the storage medium, and a print control module that controls the received e-mail to be printed by a printing apparatus. A storage medium characterized by having. 18. A storage medium storing a program for constructing an e-mail receiving system for receiving an e-mail on an information processing device, the program comprising: a storage module for storing the e-mail in a storage medium; A detection module for detecting a free space of a storage medium, and, upon receiving the e-mail, determining whether the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage module based on a detection result of the detection module. And a print control module for controlling the received email to be printed by a printing device when the storage module cannot store the received email in the storage medium. A storage medium characterized by the above-mentioned. 19. A storage medium storing a program for constructing an e-mail receiving system for receiving an e-mail on an information processing apparatus, the program comprising: a storage module for storing the e-mail in a storage medium; A detection module for detecting a free space of a storage medium, and upon receiving the e-mail, determining whether the storage medium has a free space capable of storing the received e-mail based on a detection result of the detection module. A determination module; a free space securing module for securing a free space capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium when there is no free space available for storing the received e-mail in the storage medium; A control module that controls the storage module to store the received e-mail in an empty area secured in A storage medium comprising: 20. A reading module for reading out at least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium, a print control module for controlling the printing apparatus to print the read e-mails, and 20. The storage medium according to claim 19, further comprising: a deletion module configured to delete the read electronic mail from the storage medium after the read electronic mail is printed. 21. The print control module prints the received mail by the printing device when the free space that can store the received e-mail cannot be reserved in the storage medium by the free space reservation module. 21. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is controlled to perform the operation. 22. A video game device incorporating an electronic mail receiving device for receiving an electronic mail, wherein the electronic mail receiving device includes a plurality of items including a print request item for requesting printing of the electronic mail and the electronic mail receiving device. Holding means for holding a correspondence relationship with the additional information of the mail, and sorting means for sorting the received e-mail into corresponding items based on the additional information of the received e-mail and the correspondence held in the holding means And a print control means for controlling the printing device to print the e-mail assigned to the print request item. 23. The electronic mail, wherein the additional information of the electronic mail is sender information indicating a sender of the electronic mail, and the holding unit holds a correspondence relationship between the plurality of items and the sender information. The video game device according to claim 22. 24. A video game device incorporating an e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail, wherein the e-mail receiving device has a detachable storage medium, and the e-mail has the mounted storage medium. A storage unit for storing the storage medium in the storage unit; a detection unit for detecting a state of attachment of the storage medium to the storage unit; when the electronic mail is received, the storage unit stores the received electronic mail based on a detection result of the detection unit. Determining means for determining whether or not the received e-mail can be stored in the storage medium; and when the storage of the received e-mail in the storage medium by the storage means is impossible, the received e-mail is sent to a printing apparatus. A video game apparatus comprising: a print control unit that controls printing. 25. A video game device in which an e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail is incorporated, wherein the e-mail receiving device comprises: storage means for storing the e-mail in a storage medium; Detecting means for detecting, when receiving the electronic mail, determining means for determining whether or not the received electronic mail can be stored in the storage medium by the storage means based on a detection result of the detecting means, A television, comprising: a print control unit configured to control the printing device to print the received electronic mail when the storage unit cannot store the received electronic mail in the storage medium. Game equipment. 26. A video game device in which an e-mail receiving device for receiving an e-mail is incorporated, wherein the e-mail receiving device includes a storage unit for storing the e-mail in a storage medium, and a free space of the storage medium. Detecting means for detecting, when receiving the electronic mail, determining means for determining whether the storage medium has free space capable of storing the received electronic mail based on a detection result of the detecting means, When there is no free space in the storage medium capable of storing the received e-mail, a free area securing means for securing a free area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium, and an empty space secured in the storage medium. Control means for controlling the storage means so that the received e-mail is stored in an area. 27. A reading means for reading out at least one of the e-mails stored in the storage medium, and a print control means for controlling the read-out e-mail to be printed by a printing apparatus. 27. The video game apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising a deletion unit configured to delete the read electronic mail from the storage medium after the read electronic mail is printed. 28. When the empty area securing means cannot secure an empty area capable of storing the received e-mail in the storage medium, the print control means prints the received e-mail on the printing device. 28. The video game device according to claim 27, wherein the video game device is controlled to perform the control.