JP2004110444A - Management system and method for e-mail - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an E-mail system capable of displaying the degree of importance of a mail on a received mail list screen while taking a return request and time limit information set in the received mail into consideration. <P>SOLUTION: An information table used for determining the degree of importance of the mail is formed, and the degree of importance is determined on the basis of the information table. The mails are listed in descendent order of importance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic mail system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic mail system, there is a system for assisting a user in determining the importance of a received mail (for example, see Patent Document 1). In Patent Literature 1, an e-mail for which a response time limit has been set by a sender is considered to be an important e-mail that should not be missed, and a message is output to the user that the response time limit is near when the time limit is approaching.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-103314 (page 2-3, FIG. 4)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In a conventional e-mail system, a mail whose reply time limit is set in the header, the subject, or the text by the sender is processed as a highly important mail that needs to be replied. However, a reply may be requested even if the sender has not set a response time limit. In such a case, the conventional technology could not cope. Further, the priority of the reply mail to the mail transmitted by the user with the reply request is not considered.
[0005]
In addition, for mails for which the response deadline is approaching, a message is output to notify the user of this fact.In this case, if several messages are output at the same time, take time to respond. There was a problem that the processing efficiency of the mail would be reduced instead.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to notify the importance of the exchange of mail for which a reply request has been set by the sender without lowering the processing efficiency of the user's mail.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An electronic mail system according to the present invention, comprising: means for storing an e-mail transmission log in a storage device; and an electronic mail based on information on a reply request, information on a time limit, and information on the presence or absence of a reply included in the transmission log. Means for determining the order in which the information of the mail is displayed on the screen.
[0008]
Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has the following features. 1. If a reply request attribute is set by the sender in the mail, it is based on whether the expiration information is set in the mail header, subject, or body of the mail, whether the user has already responded, or whether the user has read the mail. Have a means to determine priorities. 2. A means for determining the priority of the received mail based on whether or not the mail is a reply mail to the mail for which the reply request attribute is set by the user. 3. A means for displaying on the received mail list screen in ascending order of priority in consideration of the conditions of the opening attribute (read / unread) of the mail in addition to the conditions of 1 and 2.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic mail system to which the present invention is applied. The e-mail system includes a mail client 110 and a mail server 120. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the transmitted mail is downloaded once from the mail server 120 to the mail client 110 and then displayed.
[0010]
The mail client 110 is a group of devices used by the mail receiver, and includes a log-in processing unit 111 for the mail server 120, a mail transmission unit 112 for transferring the mail to the mail server 120, and a mail reception for downloading the mail from the mail server 120. A mail analyzing unit 114 for analyzing a mail header of an outgoing mail or creating a receiving table by analyzing a mail header of a mail downloaded from the mail server 120; a mail display unit for displaying the information; 115, and a storage device 116 for storing a reception table.
[0011]
The mail server 120 is a group of devices that perform transmission and reception of mail, etc., the authentication unit 121 of the user who uses the mail client 110, stores mail transmitted to the user, and stores received mail according to the user's request. A received mail management unit 122 that analyzes a mail header and distributes the information to the mail client 110, analyzes a reply request attribute of the mail transmitted by the user, stores the information in a transmission table, and executes transmission processing. It comprises a mail management unit 123 and a storage device 124 for storing a transmission table.
[0012]
The mail client 110 and the mail server 120 also have other functional units included in a normal mail system, but they are not directly related to the present invention, and are not shown.
[0013]
FIG. 2 shows a processing flow from creation of a mail to transmission of the mail.
Note that the log-in process of the mail client 110 to the mail server 120 is the same as a general process, and therefore, the description will be made assuming that the log-in process has been completed.
[0014]
First, the user creates a mail to be transmitted using a transmission mail editor or the like (step 211). Here, when the user wants to reply to the mail to the destination, the reply request attribute can be set. When a reply request attribute is added by, for example, pressing a reply request button during mail creation, a mail header “RepDmd: 1” indicating a reply request is set in the created mail. When a mail with this attribute is received, information of "reply requested" is displayed on the mail display screen. Next, the mail analysis unit 114 refers to the value of the mail header Reference of the transmitted mail, and searches whether or not the same value is found in the Message-ID of the reception table of the storage device 116 (step 212).
[0015]
Here, the mail header Reference is a mail header added when the mail is a reply mail to a certain received mail, and has been conventionally used. Here, the value of the mail header Message-ID set in the reply target mail is set. Message-ID is a conventional mail header used as a mail identifier. In other words, if the search in step 212 is successful, it means that the user's sent mail is a reply mail to the received mail. The receiving table will be described later (FIG. 6).
[0016]
If the search is hit, the mail analysis unit 114 checks whether the reply request flag is 1 for the hit received mail (step 213). In the case of 1, the processing completion flag of the receiving table is set to 1 (step 214). As a result, the fact that a reply has been made to the received mail for which a reply request has been made is recorded in the reception table. If no search is found in step 212, if the reply request flag is not 1 in step 213, or after the processing in step 214, the mail transmission unit 112 sends the transmitted mail to the received mail management unit 122 of the mail server 120. Is transferred (step 215).
Upon receiving the outgoing mail, the received mail managing unit 122 checks in step 221 whether a reply request (mail header RepDmd: 1) or time limit information is set in the outgoing mail.
[0017]
The term information is a known technique referred to as a reply term in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-103314. If there is a reply request or time limit information, the value of the mail header Message-ID and the subject of the outgoing mail is set in the transmission table of the storage device 124 (step 222). This is used to check whether or not a received mail arrives as a reply to the mail for which the user has set a reply request. For the transmission table, which will be described later (FIG. 3), if no reply request or time limit information has been set in step 221 or after step 222, the mail server 120 performs normal mail transmission processing (step 223). finish.
[0018]
The transmission table 300 will be described with reference to FIG. The transmission table stores data when a user sends a reply request or an e-mail in which time limit information is set, and is created in the storage device 124. In the transmission table 300, the values of the message header Message-ID and the subject of the outgoing mail are stored in the table Message-ID 311 and the subject 312.
[0019]
FIG. 4 shows a processing flow from the login of the mail client 110 to the display of the received mail list.
When the processing of the mail client 110 starts, the login processing unit first receives input of login information such as a user ID and a password from a user in order to log in to the mail server 120 from the mail client 110 in step 411, and Send to authentication department. Next, the user authentication unit of the mail server 120 performs user authentication based on the input login information (step 421). If the authentication is successful, the user authentication unit sends the user information to the mail client 110. The login processing unit of the mail client 110 receives the user information (mail address) from the mail server 120 (Step 412).
[0020]
In this embodiment, it is assumed that the user information is managed by the mail server 120 and the mail client 110 does not have the information. However, when the user information is registered in the mail client 110 in advance, the processing of the received mail is not performed. Step 412 is not necessary when the processing is performed by the mail server 120 or the like.
[0021]
Although not shown in the flow, if the user authentication has failed in step 421, the fact is reported to the mail client 110, the mail client 110 displays the fact to the user, and re-enters the login information. wait.
[0022]
Next, the mail receiving unit of the mail client 110 issues a mail reception request (step 413) to the mail management unit of the mail server 120.
Then, the mail management unit of the mail server 120 performs a reply flag adding process on the received mail delivered to the logged-in user (Step 422). The reply flag adding process is a process of adding RepMail: 1 to the mail header of the received mail when the received mail is a reply mail to the transmitted mail for which the user has set a reply request. The flow of step 422 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0023]
After step 422, mail server 120 distributes the received mail to mail client 110 (step 423). Upon receiving the delivered mail (step 414), the mail client 110 generates the receiving table 600 in the storage device 116 (step 415). The reception table 600 is used to determine the importance of mail. Details of the receiving table will be described with reference to FIG.
[0024]
When the generation of the receiving table is completed in step 415, the received mails are prioritized based on the information in the receiving table and displayed in a list, and the process is terminated in step 416. The flow of step 416 will be described with reference to FIG.
If there is an operation that changes the contents of the receiving table, such as opening the mail or replying to the mail, the processing of steps 415 and 416 is executed.
[0025]
The flow of the reply flag adding process in step 422 will be described with reference to FIG.
The reply flag adding process is to add a reply flag (RepMail: 1) to the mail header of a reply mail to the mail set by the user to send a reply request. The reply flag adding process is performed by the received mail management unit 122. When the process is started, in step 501, the value of the mail header Reference of the received mail is referred to. Then, a search is made to determine whether the same value exists in the Message-ID 310 of the transmission table 300 (step 502). If not, the process ends. If there is, the value of the mail header Subject of the received mail is referred to (step 503).
[0026]
Then, it is checked whether or not the value of the Subject 312 of the transmission table 300 is included therein (step 504). If it is not included (= the mail title is different), it is considered that it is not a reply mail to the user's reply request, so the process ends. If it does, it is considered a reply mail to the user's reply request, and a reply flag (RepMail: 1) is added to the mail header of the received mail. By doing so, it is possible to know the reply mail to the mail for which the user has set the reply request.
[0027]
The reception table 600 will be described with reference to FIG. The receiving table stores information for determining the importance of the received mail, and is created in the storage device 116. The following elements are stored in the receiving table 600.
[0028]
Mail INDEX 611: ID for managing received mail. Uniquely set when an email is received.
Processed flag 612: This flag indicates whether the user has replied to the received mail for which a reply request has been made. The default value at the time of mail reception is 0, and is set to 1 at step 214 of the transmission process. Even if the user does not reply, 1 can be set by setting “processed” using a button or the like from the mail display screen. As a result, it is possible to reduce the degree of importance by setting the mail for which the reply request is set but for which the user has determined that there is no need for a reply to be "processed".
[0029]
Reply request flag 613: A flag indicating whether a reply request is set in the received mail. When a mail is received, the mail header is referred to, and if RepDmd: 1 is set, 1 is set, and if not, 0 is set.
Deadline information 614: Deadline information such as the response deadline set in the received mail is set.
[0030]
Reply flag 615: This is a flag indicating whether the received mail is a reply mail to the mail transmitted by setting the reply request by the user. When a mail is received, a mail header is referred to, 1 is set when RepMail: 1 is present, and 0 is set when RepMail is not present.
Opening information 616: Information indicating whether the received mail has been opened by the user. The default value “unread” is set when receiving mail, and “read” is set when the mail is opened.
[0031]
Message-ID 617: Information referred to for setting the answered flag in step 221 of the mail transmission process. At the time of receiving a mail, a value of a mail header Message-ID is set.
Subject 618: Information referred to for setting a reply flag in step 422 of the mail receiving process. At the time of mail reception, the value of the mail header Subject is set.
At the time of displaying the received mail list in step 416, the importance of the received mail is determined with reference to these information.
[0032]
With reference to FIG. 7, the flow of the received mail list display in step 416 will be described.
In the received mail list display, the mails are sorted based on the information in the receiving table and displayed in order from the mail having the highest importance. When the processing is started, sorting is performed by the processed flag 612 of the receiving table 600 (step 701). Here, a mail set to 0 (unprocessed) has a higher importance than a mail set to 1 (processed).
[0033]
Next, in step 702, sorting is performed on each of the groups grouped as a result of step 701 by the reply request flag. Here, 1 (with request) has a higher importance than 0 (without request).
[0034]
Next, in step 703, sorting is performed on each of the groups grouped as a result of step 702 by the term information. In this case, first, the mail is divided into mails for which time limit information is set and mails not set. E-mails with expiration information set are more important than e-mails that have not. Next, the mails in which the term information is set are sorted in ascending order of the date of the term information. Even if the deadline date has already passed, sort by the youngest date. By doing so, the importance of information for which the time limit information is set (there is a reply request) but the user has not replied becomes high.
[0035]
Next, in step 704, sorting is performed on each of the groups grouped as a result of step 703 by a reply flag. Here, 1 (reply) has a higher importance than 0 (normal mail).
Finally, in step 705, sorting is performed on each group obtained as a result of step 704 by opening information. Here, unread has a higher importance than read.
[0036]
FIG. 8 is a table showing the importance (= display order) of the mail determined by the sorting result in step 416.
This table shows the relationship between the combination of information in the receiving table and the importance. The higher the rank, the higher the importance.
[0037]
For example, the mail with the highest importance and displayed at the top of the received mail list is the mail 801. This is an unread mail in response to a mail for which the user has set a reply request, in which the processed flag is 0, the reply request flag is 1, the set term information is the youngest date, and the user has set a reply request. In other words, in the case where a reply to the mail requested by the user and the mail whose response time limit is requested by the sender has not been opened yet, the importance is the highest.
[0038]
By determining and displaying the importance of the mail in this way, an e-mail system that notifies the importance of the exchange of mail for which a reply request has been set by the sender without lowering the processing efficiency of the user's mail. Is realized.
[0039]
【The invention's effect】
Priorities are assigned to received e-mails based on deadline information such as reply requests and response deadlines, and these are displayed in a list according to the priority, making it easier to determine the importance of the e-mail and improving the efficiency of e-mail processing be able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail system to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flowchart when performing a mail transmission process according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transmission table created when a mail is transmitted.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart when performing a mail receiving process according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flowchart of mail reception processing: reply flag addition processing.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a receiving table created when receiving a mail.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an importance determination process when a received mail list is displayed.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the importance assigned by the importance determination processing and a combination of information in a reception table.
[Explanation of symbols]
110 ... mail client 111 ... login processing unit 112 ... mail transmission unit 113 ... mail reception unit 114 ... mail analysis unit 115 ... mail display unit 116 ... storage device 120 ... mail server 121 ... user authentication unit 122 ... received mail management unit 123 ... Transmission mail management unit 124: storage device

Claims (5)

An e-mail management method using a computer,
The computer reads the information on the presence or absence of a reply request from the sender and the information on the time limit and the information on the presence or absence of a reply from the receiver to the sender from the sender associated with the e-mail stored in advance in the storage device,
An e-mail management method, comprising displaying e-mail information on a screen based on the read information. 2. The e-mail according to claim 1, wherein, when displaying the e-mail information on the screen based on the read information, the e-mail information having a reply request from the transmission source is displayed at a higher position on the screen. Management method. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when displaying the electronic mail information on the screen based on the read information, the electronic mail information is displayed on the screen in the order of the date included in the time limit information. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when displaying the information of the e-mail on the screen based on the read information, the information of the e-mail that has not been replied from the receiver to the sender is displayed at a higher position on the screen. How to manage email. An email system,
Means for storing an e-mail transmission log in a storage device;
An e-mail system comprising: means for determining the order in which e-mail information is to be displayed on a screen based on reply request information, time limit information, and presence / absence of a reply included in the transmission log. .

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