JP2003167828A - E-mail device, e-mail management method and e-mail program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically determine the priority of received e-mails without performing the special operation by a user before the contents of the mail is confirmed. <P>SOLUTION: In the priority DB 22, the priority information for determining the priority of the receives e-mails is stored. A mail operation discriminating part 30 discriminates the contents of the operation to the received e-mails, executed by a mail operating part 28. A priority DB updating part 32 updates the priority information stored in the priority DB 22 in accordance with the contents of operation discriminated by the mail operation discriminating part 30. A priority discriminating part 20 discriminates the priority in reference to the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 on the received e-mail. A rearrangement part 24 rearranges the array order in displaying the received e-mails at sight on the basis of the priority discriminated by the priority discriminating part 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail device for receiving and managing electronic mail, an electronic mail management method, and an electronic mail program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of the Internet, the Internet has been widely used in business. The most used Internet tool for business is e-mail. The e-mail is used for business negotiations and information exchange with a specific person, and is also used for collecting information. E-mails for collecting information include mail magazines and direct mails.

Usually, e-mail from a person with whom business negotiations and information exchanges are relatively important, but e-mail magazines and direct mails are not always necessary. Therefore, when receiving many e-mails, it is difficult to check all the e-mail contents, so it is necessary to identify important e-mails and e-mails that are not always necessary such as e-mail magazines and direct mails. Various selections must be made and priorities must be determined.

However, the received e-mail only displays the title (subject) and sender (mail address), and the necessary e-mail is selected from among many received e-mails before the contents of the e-mail are confirmed. Extracting and prioritizing was a very burdensome task.

Conventionally, there is an e-mail program having a function of classifying received e-mails by displaying them in a specific color according to the sender of the e-mail, but it is only possible to distinguish the senders. However, it was not possible to understand the priority of email.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional electronic mail program, the received electronic mails can be distinguished, but the priority determined by personal judgment cannot be given. Therefore, in order to prioritize a large number of received emails, it is necessary to check each email, which is a very troublesome work and the processing tends to be delayed. Therefore, there is a problem that an important e-mail is overlooked and unnecessary time is spent for checking unnecessary e-mail contents.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and automatically prioritizes received e-mails without requiring any special work by the user before confirming the mail contents. An object is to provide an electronic mail device, an electronic mail management method, and an electronic mail program that can be determined.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to solve such a problem. According to the invention of claim 1, in an electronic mail device for receiving electronic mail, the priority is determined for the received electronic mail. Priority information storing means for storing priority information, mail operation determination means for determining the operation content of the received electronic mail, and the priority according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination means. The present invention is characterized by including priority updating means for updating the priority information stored in the storage means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, priority determining means for determining the priority of the received electronic mail based on the priority information stored in the priority storing means,
Based on the priority determined by the priority determining means, a rearrangement means for rearranging the arrangement order when displaying the received e-mails in a list, and an arrangement order rearranged by the rearrangement means. Then, a mail display means for displaying a list of the received electronic mails is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an update mail discriminating means for discriminating reception of an electronic mail for instructing an update of the priority information stored in the priority storing means, and the update mail discriminating means. The priority information updating means for updating the priority information stored in the priority storage means in accordance with the electronic mail discriminated by.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an electronic mail discriminating means for discriminating whether the electronic mail is an electronic mail that meets a predetermined condition based on the priority information stored in the priority storing means, and the electronic mail discriminating means. When the electronic mail discriminating means discriminates that the electronic mail corresponds to a predetermined condition, the electronic mail discriminating means is provided with a mail operating means for restricting an operation for the electronic mail.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the received electronic mail is received according to the mail operation determination step of determining the operation content of the received electronic mail and the operation content determined by the mail operation determination step. Priority updating step for updating the priority information for determining the priority.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail program for receiving an electronic mail, wherein the computer stores priority information for determining a priority for the received electronic mail. Priority storage means to
Mail operation determination means for determining the operation content for the received electronic mail, and priority update for updating the priority information stored by the priority storage means in accordance with the operation content determined by the mail operation determination means. It is intended to function as means.

According to the invention described in claims 1, 5, and 6,
When the user performs some operation on the received e-mail, the operation content is determined, and when an e-mail from the same sender (or sender / subject group) is received in the future, depending on the operation content. Then, the priority information for determining the priority of this e-mail is updated. Usually, an operation performed on a user's electronic mail is different between an electronic mail having a high priority having important contents for the user and an unnecessary electronic mail having a low priority. Like this
By storing and updating the priority information based on the contents of operations that the user naturally performs, special work is performed not only for the sender of the email (sender) but also for the user of the recipient of the email. Does not need

According to the second aspect of the present invention, with respect to the received electronic mail, the priority recorded and updated based on the electronic mail received from the same sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject) in the past. The priority is determined based on the information, and a list of the e-mails received in the order of arrangement based on the priority is displayed. Therefore, important emails with high priority and emails with low priority can be easily identified from the list display, and unnecessary time is missed for important emails and unnecessary email contents are confirmed. You can avoid spending.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the priority information is updated not only from the operation content of the received electronic mail but also by a special electronic mail for instructing the update of the priority information. It is possible.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the electronic mail corresponding to the predetermined condition determined based on the priority information, for example, the electronic mail received in the past in which the priority information is not stored is received. In the case of e-mails from senders (or sender / subject pairs) or specific e-mails specified in advance, there are cases where this e-mail is an unfair e-mail used to spread a computer virus. By giving operational restrictions to the mail, such as not opening the mail or executing the attached file, the damage from unjustified e-mails can be avoided.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, the terminal 2 (2-1 to 2-4) (e-mail device), the server 6
However, they are connected via a network 4 including the Internet, a public line network, a LAN, etc., and can send and receive electronic mail to and from each other through a mail server (not shown) used by each. The terminals 2-1 to 2-4 are PDAs (personal computers) that are personal computers and mobile terminals.
digital assistant) and the like, which reads a program recorded in various recording media and whose operation is controlled by this program. The server 6 provides the terminal 2 with a service for updating the function of the electronic mail function realized by the electronic mail program. For example, an electronic mail having a predetermined content (a priority DB update mail described later). ) To provide the service.

FIG. 2 shows a terminal 2 for realizing an electronic mail device.
2 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 2 has a CPU 10, a display device 12, an input device 14, a communication device 16, and a storage device 18.

The CPU 10 controls the entire terminal 2. For example, the CPU 10 activates an electronic mail program stored in the storage device 18 according to the operation contents input from the input device 14, and creates a mail according to this program. Performs e-mail functions such as sending and receiving e-mail. According to the electronic mail program of the present embodiment, the same sender (based on the operation content of the received electronic mail by the user, for example, “opened mail”, “read mail to the end”, “forwarded mail”, etc.) Alternatively, it is possible to register the priority information about the email from the sender and the subject). When an electronic mail is received, it is possible to determine the arrangement order when displaying the received electronic mail as a list, based on the priority information registered in advance.

The display device 12 displays screens according to the execution of various processes. When the electronic mail program is executed, the electronic mail creation screen, the sender of the received electronic mail (the sender electronic mail) is displayed. A list display screen including mail address), subject (subject), reception date and time, and a mail content display screen that displays the mail content of the email selected from the list display screen are displayed.
The input device 14 is configured by a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and inputs an instruction and data that define the operation of the terminal 2. The communication device 16 includes the CPU 10
Under the control of, the communication with other terminals 2 and the server 6 is performed via the network 4.

The storage device 18 is composed of memories such as ROM and RAM and storage devices such as a hard disk device, and requires various data in addition to a system program for controlling the entire terminal 2 and a processing program corresponding to various functions. Is stored according to. The processing program includes an e-mail program 18a for realizing an e-mail function, and data stored along with the execution of the e-mail program 18a is for determining the priority of the received e-mail. The priority database (DB) 18b in which the priority information is registered, the received electronic mail 18c newly received through the network 4, and the sender (or the sender and the subject) of the received electronic mail are classified as the first electronic mail. There is a first received mail 18d, and another received mail 18e other than the first received mail 18d among the received electronic mails.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by executing an electronic mail program in the system configuration shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 2 (e-mail device) has a priority determination unit 20.
(Priority DB update mail determination unit 20a), priority database (DB) 22, rearrangement unit 24, mail storage unit 2
6, functions of the mail operation unit 28, the mail operation determination unit 30, the priority DB update unit 32, and the mail display unit 34 are provided.

The priority discriminating section 20 gives priority to the received e-mails when displaying a list of the received e-mails based on the priority information (details will be described later) stored in the priority DB 22. Then, the priority for determining the arrangement order to be displayed is determined. In addition, the priority determination unit 20
Is an email corresponding to a predetermined condition based on the priority information stored in the priority DB 22, such as the priority DB 22.
It is determined whether the received email is the email received from the first sender (or the sender / subject group) for which the priority information corresponding to is not registered, or a specific email designated in advance. The priority DB update mail discriminating unit 20a determines a priority DB 22 different from the general one for the received electronic mail.
It is determined whether or not the electronic mail for instructing the update of the priority information stored in, that is, the reception of the priority DB update mail transmitted from the server 6 is received.

The priority DB 22 is for registering priority information for deciding the priority of the received electronic mails in the order of arrangement when displaying the list, and the user's operation for the electronic mails received in the past. The priority information according to the content and the priority DB update mail received from the server 6 is registered.

The rearrangement unit 24 rearranges the received e-mails in the order in which they are arranged based on the priority determined by the priority determination unit 20 and stores them in the mail storage unit 26. Store incoming e-mail.

The mail storage unit 26 stores the received electronic mail in the storage device 18, and the priority determination unit 20.
The data is sorted and stored by the sorting unit 24 in the order of arrangement according to the priority determined by. The mail storage unit 26 is the first to store the e-mail received from the first sender (or the sender / subject group) whose priority information is not registered in the priority DB 22 determined by the priority determination unit 20. Received mail storage unit 26
A (first received mail 18d) and a received mail storage unit 26b (received mail 18e) for storing other e-mails except for the first mail to be stored in the received mail storage unit 26a are provided.

The mail operation unit 28 executes various operations in response to an instruction from the user for the electronic mail stored in the mail storage unit 26. The mail operation unit 28 is an e-mail determined by the priority determination unit 20 to meet a predetermined condition, that is, an e-mail stored in the received mail storage unit 26a for the first time or a predesignated e-mail stored in the received mail storage unit 26b. Regarding the operation for the electronic mail corresponding to the specific electronic mail, the executable processing contents are restricted by the instruction from the user.

The mail operation determination unit 30 is the mail operation unit 2
The contents of the operation for the electronic mail stored in the mail storage unit 26 by 8 are determined.

The priority DB update unit 32 determines the priority D according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination unit 30.
The priority information stored in B22 is updated.

Further, the priority DB updating unit 32 determines the priority D
According to the electronic mail (priority DB update mail) determined by the B update mail determination unit 20a, the priority DB 22
The priority information stored in is updated.

The mail display unit 34 stores the electronic mails stored in the mail storage unit 26 (first received mail storage unit 26a, received mail storage unit 26b) in the order (priority) sorted by the sorting unit 24. To display a list.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, the priority DB 22
Details of the priority information registered in will be described. The priority information is registered for each sender of the received electronic mail, or for each combination of the sender and the subject, and the contents of the user's operation on the electronic mail received in the past and the server 6
It is registered according to the priority DB update mail or the like received from.

In the example of the priority information shown in FIG. 4, the sender,
Alternatively, in association with the set of sender and subject, each information of priority, highest priority designation, and rejection designation (rank designation, deletion designation) is registered. Priority is represented by points and rank. The points are calculated according to the operation content of the user with respect to the electronic mail received in the past. Details of the point calculation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The rank is determined based on the points and the highest priority designation and the refusal designation, and indicates the relative priority with respect to other sender / subject pairs. For example, the ranks S, AAA, AA, A, BBB, ... C, which indicate the highest priority, are represented in descending order of priority. As for the rank, for example, when the number of points exceeds a predetermined threshold value for each rank, the corresponding rank is set.

Next, regarding the operation in this embodiment,
This will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The CPU 10 of the terminal 2 is the electronic mail program 1
By executing 8a, the processing shown in the flowchart is executed.

In the terminal 2 in this embodiment, the same sender (or combination of sender and subject) is received according to a general operation performed by a user on a received electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as a received electronic mail). You can register a priority for emails from. Usually, users will be able to
For example, in the case of an email from a specific sender or an email with a subject line indicating that it is an important email, open the email for this email, check the content, and send a reply email. While various operations such as sending are executed, in the case of unnecessary e-mail (mail magazine or direct mail), no operation is often performed. The terminal 2 (e-mail program) registers the priority information according to the natural operation content of the e-mail received by the user, and then the e-mail of the same sender (or sender and subject line combination) is registered. When received, it is determined whether or not the email is important based on the priority information registered beforehand, and the received emails are displayed in a list in the order of arrangement according to the importance.

First, the registration of priority information in the priority DB 22 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a process of updating the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 according to the operation on the received electronic mail.

When the terminal 2 receives an electronic mail, it stores it in the mail storage unit 26 (first received mail storage unit 26a, received mail storage unit 26b). For the electronic mail stored in the mail storage unit 26, the user inputs the input device 14
Can be used to perform various operations provided in the electronic mail function. The mail display unit 34 displays the mail storage unit 2 in response to a user's instruction input from the input device 14.
With respect to the electronic mails stored in No. 6, the display device 12 displays a list display screen of the received electronic mails including the sender, the subject, and the reception date and time. It should be noted that the display of the list of the received e-mails sorted according to the priority information will be described later.

The mail operation unit 28 receives received e-mails arbitrarily selected from the list of received e-mails.
The processing according to the operation input from the input device 14 is executed. In the example shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, "open (open) mail", "read mail to the end", "forward mail", "reply to mail", and "CC to mail destination"
(Carbon Copy) does not exist "" BCC (Bli
nd Carbon Copy) ”“ Responds within 5 minutes after opening the email ”.

For example, when a specific electronic mail is selected from the received electronic mail list display and an instruction to open the mail is given (step B1), the mail operation unit 28 displays a screen displaying the content of the selected electronic mail. It is displayed on the display device 12. At this time, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines that the operation of opening the mail has been performed (step B).
1). The priority DB update unit 32 includes the mail operation determination unit 30.
Priority D for this e-mail according to the determination by
The points of the priority registered in B22 are increased (step B2). Here, one point of priority is added.

Furthermore, for the opened e-mail,
When there is an input operation for scrolling the screen displaying the mail content, that is, when an operation for reading the mail content to the end is performed, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines that the mail has been read to the end (step B3). ). The priority DB update unit 32 raises the point of the priority registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail in the same manner as described above, according to the determination by the mail operation determination unit 30 (step B4). Here, similarly, one point of priority is added.

Similarly, if there is an input operation for transferring a mail or replying to a received electronic mail, the mail operating section 28 executes a process according to the input operation. The mail operation determination unit 30 determines the operation content executed by the mail operation unit 28 (step B
5, B6), and the priority DB update unit 32 raises the points of the priority registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail according to the determination by the mail operation determination unit 30 (one point addition) (step B6). , B8).

Further, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines whether or not CC is set in the mail destination or BCC is set in the mail destination when the returned mail is created. , It is determined by referring to the mail header information of the reply mail (steps B9, B11). When it is determined that CC is not set as the destination of the mail, the priority DB update unit 32 increases the priority point registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail (1 point addition) (step B10). . In addition, BC is sent to the mail destination.
When it is determined that C is set, the priority DB update unit 32 increases the priority point registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail (1 point addition) (step B12).

Further, when the mail is returned, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines whether the time from the opening of the received electronic mail to the execution of the reply is within 5 minutes (step B13). When the mail operation determination unit 30 determines that the received e-mail is returned within 5 minutes after opening the received e-mail, the priority DB update unit 32 registers the priority registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail. Increase points (add 2 points) (Step B1
4).

In this way, the priority DB update unit 32 determines and updates the priority of the corresponding received e-mail registered in the priority DB 22 based on the priority points calculated according to each operation content ( Step B15).

In this way, the priority points are updated according to the contents of the operation performed by the user on the received electronic mail. When the received e-mail is important, the user opens the e-mail, confirms the e-mail contents to the end, and forwards the e-mail to another person, or returns the e-mail to the sender. Further, when the received e-mail has confidentiality, a reply e-mail is sent only to a specific party to the received e-mail, that is, the e-mail is returned without adding CC to the destination. In addition, if you want to conceal the fact that you sent an email to multiple parties but did not send it to the other party
Add C and reply to the email. Furthermore, if it is an important email that you have to open the email and immediately send a reply email to the email,
For example, a reply mail is sent within a short time such as within 5 minutes. In this way, the tendency of whether the received e-mail is important to the user is grasped from the operation contents of the received e-mail of the user, and accordingly, the sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject) of the received e-mail can be grasped. The priority for emails can be determined.

Here, since the priority points are calculated for a plurality of operation contents, for example, even if the received e-mail is opened, it depends on what operation the user has performed on the received e-mail after that. , You can make a difference in priority. That is, some users open the unwanted email even once, and others delete it without opening it. However, the priority is based on whether the received email is opened or not. By not deciding and determining the priority in combination with other operation contents, the priority point for relatively unnecessary emails is lowered, and more operations were performed for important emails. The priority points for emails are set to be high.

The operation content shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is an example, and the priority points can be calculated for other operation content. In addition, although the added score of the priority other than the operation of "reply within 5 minutes after opening the mail" is set to 1, the added score is set in more stages according to the operation content (for example, 1 to 10 points). Range, etc.) may be set. Moreover, the user may arbitrarily set in advance how many points should be added to which operation content. In this case, a higher score may be set for the operation contents that the user often performs on important e-mail. As a result, it becomes possible to set the priority for the received electronic mail according to the degree of importance intended by the user.

In the above description, the point of the priority is added according to the operation content performed by the user, but the point may be subtracted for the predetermined operation content. For example, when an operation is performed to delete a received electronic mail without opening it, points are subtracted so that the electronic mail received from the same sender has a lower priority. In this case, as in the case of the above-described addition, the points when subtracting the points of the priority may be set in multiple stages according to the processing content, and how many points may be subtracted according to the operation content. The user may arbitrarily set whether or not to do it.

Further, when a predetermined operation content is performed, the priority is added to the operation content. However, when a specific operation content is executed in combination, a predetermined point is added or A calculation method such as subtraction is also possible.

In the above-mentioned example, whether CC is not set in the destination set in the reply mail or BC is set.
Although the priority is updated depending on whether C is set, the mail header information of the received electronic mail is referred to and the priority is updated depending on whether CC or BCC is set for the destination of the received electronic mail. You may do it.

Next, the information of the highest priority designation and the rejection designation (rank designation, deletion designation) registered in the priority DB 22 will be described. The information of the highest priority designation is set when it is designated by the user or when the points of the priority calculated according to the operation content satisfy a predetermined condition. In the case of the setting designated by the user, the sender or the combination of the sender and the subject is designated as the highest priority target.
The priority DB updating unit 32 registers the corresponding sender or the combination of the sender and the subject in the priority DB 22 according to the designation input from the input device 14, and sets the highest priority designation. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the sender "○○○
It indicates that the highest priority designation is set for “◯” (no subject), and the priority rank is set to S accordingly. Further, in the case of setting by points of priority, the priority DB update unit 32 determines that the points calculated for the sender or the set of the sender and the subject registered in the priority DB 22 are different from the sender or the sender. If there is a difference that exceeds the calculated point for the set of subject names and a predetermined value, it is set as the highest priority designation for the corresponding sender or the set of sender and subject.

The information of refusal designation (rank designation, deletion designation) is set when it is designated by the user or when the priority DB update mail is received from the server 6. In the case of the setting designated by the user, it is performed in the same manner as the case of the highest priority designation. Priority DB
In the case of setting by the update mail, the sender or the combination of the sender and the subject is specified in the priority DB update mail. The priority DB updating unit 32 registers the sender or the set of the sender and the subject in the priority DB 22 according to the designation by the priority DB update mail, and sets the rejection designation. In the example shown in FIG. 4, a refusal designation (rank designation) is set for the sender “○ × ○ ×” (no subject), and accordingly, the refusal designation is set to a predetermined rank C. It means that it has been set. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the sender is “Δ × Δ”
This indicates that the rejection designation (deletion designation) has been set for the combination of "X" and the subject "XXXXX". As shown in FIG. 4, the refusal designation includes, for example, a rank designation in which the received emails are displayed in the lowest rank so as to indicate that the emails have the lowest priority in the list display, and It is assumed that there is a delete designation that is unconditionally deleted without displaying it. The update of the priority DB 22 by the priority DB update mail will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6 (step A3).

Next, a method of processing a received mail based on the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the update of the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 when the operation for the received electronic mail is input.

When an electronic mail is received (step A
1) The priority determination unit 20 determines whether or not the priority DB update mail has been transmitted from the server 6 (step A2). Here, if it is the priority DB update mail, the priority DB update unit 32 updates the priority DB 22 according to the contents set in the priority DB update mail (step A3). In the priority DB update mail, it is possible to specify the sender or the combination of the sender and the subject to be updated (or newly registered), and to reject it (rank or delete) .

For example, when the server 6 detects an electronic mail that may spread a computer virus, the sender or subject attached to the electronic mail is designated so that the electronic mail is not received by the terminal 2, and E-mail corresponding to the sender or subject is designated to be rejected, and the deletion without opening is designated by the priority DB update email. In the priority DB 22 shown in FIG. 4, it is indicated that the received e-mail with the sender “Δ × Δ ×” and the subject “xx × ◯” is set to be rejected (deleted).

On the other hand, if it is not the priority DB update mail (step A2), the priority DB 22 is searched based on the sender and subject of the received mail, and the corresponding one is extracted. If there is any corresponding item and the rejection designation is set (step A4), the sorting unit 24 deletes the received email so that it is not opened.

If it is the highest priority e-mail (step A6), the rearrangement unit 24 rearranges the received e-mails to the highest rank and stores them in the received mail storage unit 26b ( Step A7).

Further, as a result of searching the priority DB 22 based on the sender and the subject of the received mail, if there is no corresponding one, that is, if the mail is the first received from the other party (step A8), the sorting section 24 stores the received electronic mail in the received mail storage unit 26a for the first time (step A9). That is, if the sender is unknown, it may be harmful because it spreads a computer virus to the terminal 2 and should be handled separately from other received emails. It is stored for the first time in the received mail storage unit 26a. The operation of the mail operation unit 28 is restricted for the electronic mail stored in the received mail storage unit 26a for the first time.

For example, some computer viruses using electronic mail are infected by executing the attached file. In general e-mail operations, it usually has very convenient functions such as automatically opening an attached file when an e-mail is opened (starting and executing an application program corresponding to the attached file). There is something. In the terminal 2 (e-mail program) of the present embodiment, for an e-mail whose sender is unknown, even if the user opens the e-mail and automatically opens the attached file,
Restrict the operation of opening this attachment to not be performed automatically. This prevents the computer virus from being infected by an inadvertent operation.

When the user instructs the mail display unit 34 to display a list of received e-mails (step A1).
0), the list of the received electronic mails stored in the mail storage unit 26 is displayed on the display device 12 in the order of arrangement according to the priority registered in the priority DB 22.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a list display of received e-mails. As shown in FIG. 7, in the list display, the sender name, the subject, the rank of the priority determined based on the priority DB 22, the reception date and time, etc. are displayed in association with each other. There is. In the list display, the received emails are arranged in order of priority, and displayed. For this reason, if the contents of the e-mail are confirmed from the upper order according to the order of arrangement, it is possible to prevent an important e-mail from being overlooked, and to avoid wasting time for confirming the contents of unnecessary e-mail. Further, since the rank of the priority is added and displayed, the user can refer to the rank to determine up to which level to check the email.

In the above description, when referring to the priority DB 22 for a received electronic mail, the sender registered in the priority DB 22 based on the sender of the received electronic mail or the combination of the sender and the subject. Alternatively, although the sender and the subject name are searched for the corresponding priority information, the priority information may be registered in the priority DB 22 for only the sender or the subject. In this case, with respect to the received electronic mail, only the sender or the subject registered in the priority DB 22 is searched. In this way, by registering the priority information in the priority DB 22 using the sender and the subject, for example, all emails from a specific sender are determined as a predetermined priority, or emails from the same sender are registered. Even if it is, it can be determined as different priority depending on the subject.

In the above description, the priority DB2 is sent by the priority DB update mail transmitted from the server 6.
It is supposed that the priority information stored in 2 can be updated. However, if the priority DB update mail determination unit 20a can make a determination, the priority DB update sent from another terminal 2 is not limited to the server 6. The priority information may be updated by email.

In the above description, the mail operation unit 2
The electronic mail whose operation by 8 is restricted is an electronic mail received from a first person (an electronic mail whose sender is unknown), but a specific electronic mail designated in advance can be targeted. For example, when the server 6 notifies the priority DB update mail that the operation should be restricted for the email with a specific subject, this designated subject is registered in the priority DB 22 and received. Based on the subject of the e-mail, it is determined whether the e-mail is applicable. Here, when it is determined that the email is the corresponding email, the operation is restricted in the same manner as in the case of the email whose sender is unknown.

In this way, when the user performs some operation on the received electronic mail, the content of the operation is determined, and in the future, the same sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject) depending on the operation content. ), The priority information for determining the priority for this e-mail is registered in the priority DB 22. Then, for the received e-mail, the priority is determined based on the priority information previously registered in the priority DB 22, and the list of the received e-mails is displayed according to this priority. Therefore, the user can automatically determine the priority of the received electronic mail without requiring any special work before confirming the mail contents. Further, the sender of the e-mail (sender) does not need any special work for designating the priority of the e-mail.

The methods described in the above embodiments are, as a program that can be executed by a computer, for example, a magnetic disk (flexible disk, hard disk, etc.), optical disk (CD-ROM,
It can be provided to various devices by writing it on a recording medium such as a DVD) or a semiconductor memory. It is also possible to transmit the data via a communication medium and provide it to various devices. A computer that implements the present apparatus reads the program recorded on the recording medium or receives the program via a communication medium, and the operation is controlled by the program to execute the above-described processing.

The invention of the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified at the stage of implementation without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, the embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment and the effect is obtained, the structure in which the constituent elements are deleted can be extracted as the invention.

[0069]

As described in detail above, the first and second aspects of the present invention are described.
According to 5, when an operation is performed on the received e-mail, the operation content is determined, and an e-mail from the same sender (or a combination of the sender and the subject) will be sent in the future according to the operation content. When received, the priority information for determining the priority of this email is updated, so without any special work by the user before checking the email content of the received email, The priority of received e-mail can be automatically determined.

According to claim 2 of the present invention, the priority of the received electronic mail is determined based on the priority information, and the received electronic mail is sorted in the order of arrangement based on the priority. Since a list is displayed, you can easily identify important emails with high priority or emails with low priority from the list display, and you can overlook important emails and check the contents of unnecessary emails. It is possible to avoid spending unnecessary time for confirmation.

According to claim 3 of the present invention, the update of the priority information is performed not only from the operation content of the received electronic mail, but also by a special electronic mail for instructing the update of the priority information. It will be possible.

According to claim 4 of the present invention, in the case of an electronic mail which meets a predetermined condition determined based on the priority information, the operation is restricted for this electronic mail. , It is possible to avoid damages caused by unjustified e-mail.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a terminal 2 that realizes an electronic mail device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by executing an electronic mail program.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining details of priority information registered in a priority DB 22.

[FIG. 5] Priority D according to an operation for an incoming e-mail
The flowchart for demonstrating the process which updates the priority information registered into B22.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining updating of priority information registered in the priority DB 22 when an operation for a received electronic mail is input.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a list display of received emails.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 (2-1 to 2-4) ... Terminal 4 ... Network 6 ... server 10 ... CPU 12 ... Display device 14 ... Input device 16 ... Communication device 18 ... Storage device 18a ... E-mail program 18b ... Priority DB 20 ... Priority determination unit 20a ... Priority DB update mail discriminating unit 22 ... Priority DB 24 ... Sorting unit 26 ... E-mail storage 26a ... First received mail storage unit 26b ... Received mail storage unit 28 ... Email operation unit 30 ... Email operation determination unit 32 ... Priority DB update unit 34 ... Email display section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail device for receiving an electronic mail, a priority storing means for storing priority information for determining a priority for the received electronic mail, and an operation content for the received electronic mail. And a priority update unit for updating the priority information stored in the priority storage unit according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination unit. And an electronic mail device. 2. A priority discriminating means for discriminating the priority of a received electronic mail based on the priority information stored in the priority storing means, and a priority discriminated by the priority discriminating means. Sorting means for sorting the received e-mails in the order of arrangement when listing the received e-mails, and displaying the received e-mails in the order of the arrangements sorted by the sorting means. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mail display means. 3. An update mail discriminating means for discriminating reception of an electronic mail for instructing an update of the priority information stored in the priority storage means, and an electronic mail discriminated by the update mail discriminating means, The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising priority information updating means for updating the priority information stored in the priority storage means. 4. An electronic mail discriminating means for discriminating whether the electronic mail corresponds to a predetermined condition based on the priority information stored in the priority storing means, and a predetermined condition by the electronic mail discriminating means. The electronic mail apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a mail operating unit that restricts an operation on the electronic mail when the electronic mail is determined to correspond to the electronic mail. 5. A mail operation determination step of determining the operation content for the received electronic mail, and a priority for the received electronic mail is determined according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination step. And a priority updating step of updating priority information for the electronic mail management method. 6. An electronic mail program for receiving an electronic mail, comprising: priority storage means for storing priority information for determining the priority of a received electronic mail in a computer; Mail operation determination means for determining the operation content for the generated electronic mail, and priority update means for updating the priority information stored by the priority storage means according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination means An email program for working with and.