JP2019121228A - Electronic mail processing device, electronic mail processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a method that improves convenience when a plurality of users use the same sorting-out rule, in which, when the sorting-out rule associated with a mail box of a first user is changed, a result of the change made by the first user is automatically reflected on a sorting-out rule associated with a mail box of a second user.SOLUTION: An electronic mail processing device comprises: a sorting-out rule storage unit 42 that stores a sorting-out rule for sorting out electronic mails received by a mailer to a mail box; a reference sharing information storage unit 43 that stores information indicative of a referred or shared mail box of other user; and a mail box management unit 41 that manages information on the sorting-out rule stored by the sorting-out rule storage unit, and the information indicative of the referred or shared mail box of the other user stored by the reference sharing information storage unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 20

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic mail processing device, an electronic mail processing method, and a program, and, for example, to an electronic mail processing device that stores received electronic mail in a mail box according to a sorting rule.

  E-mail client software or mailer (e.g., web mail) generally has a sorting function of e-mail (hereinafter abbreviated as e-mail). The user can set a sorting rule to associate with a mailbox owned by the user.

  When the mail is received, the mailer detects an attribute of the received mail (for example, a mail address, a subject, or a keyword in the mail text), and specifies the detected attribute and the corresponding sorting rule. Then, the mailer stores the received e-mail in the mailbox associated with the specified sorting rule.

  The user may want to make the sorting rules of his / her own mailbox the same as other users or user groups. For example, when a new project is started, each member of the project sets the same sorting rule so that project-related mail is stored in the mailbox owned by the project. However, since it is inefficient for all members of the project to set the same sorting rule, it is required to improve the setting method of the sorting rule.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for reducing the time and effort for a plurality of users to set the same sorting rule. Specifically, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the first user links the sorting rule to the mailbox owned by the user, the information indicating the sorting rule is the mail of the second user. Sent by address. The second user-side mailer receives the information indicating the sorting rule from the first user-side mailer. Based on the information received by the second user's mailer, the second user's mailbox is automatically linked with the same sorting rule as that linked to the first user's mailbox. . Thus, according to the technology described in Patent Document 1, the sorting rule associated with the mailbox owned by the first user can be easily copied to the mailbox owned by the second user.

JP, 2008-090497, A JP 2004-157772 A JP, 2006-260221, A

  However, in the related art, the user can change only the sorting rule of his / her own mailbox. In the example described above, only the first user can change the sorting rule associated with the mailbox of the first user. Also, when the sorting rule linked to the mailbox of the first user is changed, the sorting rule linked to the mailbox of the second user has the result of the change made by the first user. It is not reflected automatically. These things may cause problems in the operation of the mail system.

  An object of the present invention is to improve the convenience when a plurality of users use the same sorting rule.

  An electronic mail processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes sorting rule storage means for storing sorting rules for sorting emails received by a mailer into mailboxes, and mailboxes of other users cited or shared. Quotation shared information storage means for storing information to be shown, information on the sorting rule stored in the sorting rule storage means, and mail boxes of the cited or shared other users for the quote or shared information stored in the quote sharing information storage means And mailbox management means for managing the information to be shown.

  An email processing method according to another aspect of the present invention stores a sorting rule for sorting emails received by a mailer into mailboxes, and indicates a mailbox of another user cited or shared. Storing information; and managing information of the sorting rule and information indicative of the other user's mailbox being quoted or shared.

  A program according to another aspect of the present invention stores a sorting rule for sorting emails received by a mailer into mailboxes, and stores information indicating other users' mailboxes quoted or shared. And causing the computer device to manage the information on the sorting rule and the information indicating the other user's mailbox quoted or shared.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the convenience in the case where a plurality of users use the same sorting rule can be improved.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mail processing apparatus according to a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the received mail screen which a mailer displays. It is a figure in which the display edit menu is displayed in the received mail screen which a mailer displays. It is an example of the personal display data which personal display mailbox DB (Data Base) of the mail processing device concerning Embodiment 1 stores. It is an example of the attribute information list | wrist of the mailbox which all the mailbox DBs of the mail processing apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 memorize | store. It is another figure in which the display edit menu screen is displayed in the received mail screen which a mailer displays. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing personal display data edited by a personal display editing unit provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a figure in which the attribute edit menu screen is displayed in the received mail screen which a mailer displays. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the classification rule edit process performed by the classification rule editing part with which the mail processing apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 was equipped. FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of a sorting rule change screen displayed by the sorting rule editor included in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 17 is a view showing another example of the sorting rule change screen displayed by the sorting rule editing unit provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an attribute information list of the mailbox edited by the sorting rule editor provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a figure in which the attribute edit menu screen is displayed in the received mail screen which a mailer displays. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of a disclosure state editing process performed by the disclosure state editing unit provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a disclosure state change screen displayed by the disclosure state editing unit provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 16 is a view showing another example of the disclosure state change screen displayed by the disclosure state editing unit provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an attribute information list of a mailbox edited by the open state editor provided in the mail processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mail processing apparatus according to a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a mail processing apparatus according to a third embodiment. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mail processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

Embodiment 1
One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

(E-mail processing device 1)
The configuration of an information processing system including the mail processing device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system including the mail processing device 1. In FIG. 1, the information processing system includes a terminal 10 and a mail processing device 1. The mail processing device 1 includes a mailbox management device 101 and a mailbox DB 301. The terminal 10 includes a control circuit 502, a display device 503, and an input device 504.

(Mailer 501)
The mailer 501 is software for the user to create, edit, send and receive, and manage mail via the input device 504. The mailer 501 transmits and receives electronic mail (hereinafter, abbreviated as "mail"). When the mail is received, the mailer 501 stores the received mail in any of the mail boxes included in the mail box DB 301 of the mail processing apparatus 1 in accordance with the sorting rule set by the user (or in the initial setting).

(Sorting rule)
The sorting rule is a rule for the mailer 501 to determine in which mailbox the received mail is stored. For example, the sorting rule may be that the subject line of the email contains a specific word (e.g. "[Notification]"). Alternatively, the sorting rule may be that the sender (FROM :) or the destination (TO :) of the mail includes a specific mail address (for example, "ABC@example.com"). In the following, the sorting rule associated with a certain mailbox may be simply referred to as “a certain sorting rule of a certain mailbox”.

  By operating the interface of the mailer 501, the user can set and change the sorting rule of his / her own mailbox. Here, the mailbox owned by the user is a mailbox in which a mail whose destination (including TO, CC and BCC) is used is the mail address used by the user. The information on the owner of the mailbox is stored in an all-mailbox DB (see FIG. 5) described later.

  In this embodiment, the user can further change the sorting rule of the mailbox when “sharing” the mailbox owned by the other user. The method of "sharing" another user's mailbox will be described later.

(Incoming mail screen)
FIG. 2 is an example of a screen X1 (hereinafter referred to as a “received mail screen”) displayed on the display device 503 by the mailer 501. The received mail screen X1 shown in FIG. 2 is composed of areas P1 to P4. In area P1, a list of mailboxes owned by the user is shown. In area P2, a list of mailboxes of other published users is shown. In the area P3, a list of subject lines of mail stored in one mailbox selected from the list in the area P1 is shown. In area P4, the content (text) of one mail data item selected from the list of subject lines of mail in area P3 is shown.

  FIG. 3 shows another example of the received mail screen X2 displayed on the display device 503 by the mailer 501. As shown in FIG. In the received mail screen X2 shown in FIG. 2, when the user performs an operation of selecting a mailbox named "Project C related", the received mail screen X2 shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.

  In the received mail screen X2 shown in FIG. 3, a small screen E (hereinafter referred to as a "display editing menu screen") is displayed on the mailbox of the other public user named "Project C related". It is done. Three options of “copy”, “quote” and “share” are displayed on the display editing menu screen E shown in FIG. The display editing menu screen E shows what kind of operation the user is authorized to perform with respect to the mailboxes of other published users. In the present embodiment, the meaning of “copy,” “quote,” and “share,” respectively, will be described below.

("Copy""quote""share" of the mailbox)
(1) Copy “Copy” of a mailbox means creating another mailbox having the same attributes (eg, mailbox name, sorting rule, etc.) as a certain mailbox. The target of "copy" is a mailbox of another user who has been published. The owner of the mailbox created by "copy" is the user who performed the "copy" operation. For example, when the user selects "Copy" on the display edit menu screen E shown in FIG. 3, a mailbox named "Project C related" is added in the area P1 of the received mail screen X2. Note that mail data stored in the "copied" mailbox is not copied to the mailbox created by "Copy". Only the mail data whose destination (including TO, CC and BCC) is the mail address of the user who performed the "copy" operation is stored in the mailbox created by the "copy".

(2) Quotation "Citation" means displaying a mailbox of another published user as if it is owned by the user. In the display / edit menu screen E shown in FIG. 3, when the user performs an operation of "quoting" a published mailbox having the name "project C related", an area P1 of the received mail screen X2 shown in FIG. 2 is displayed. , A mailbox named “Project C related” is added. When the user opens the “shared” mailbox using the mailer 501, only mail data whose destination (including TO, CC and BCC) is the mail address of this user is displayed.

  A "quoted" mailbox is like a shadow of another user's "quoted" mailbox. The "quoted" mailbox is subordinate to the "quoted" mailbox with respect to the sorting rules (and other attributes). That is, when the sorting rule of the "quoted" mailbox is changed, the sorting rule of the "quoted" mailbox is also changed in the same manner. The "quoted" mailbox sorting rules can not be changed independently of the "quoted" mailbox sorting rules. Therefore, the "quoted" mailbox sorting rule always matches the "quoted" mailbox sorting rule.

(3) Sharing "Shared" means that a plurality of users have the right to change the mailbox sorting rule. In the display edit menu screen E shown in FIG. 3, when the user performs an operation for “sharing” a published mailbox named “Project C related”, the area of the received mail screen X1 shown in FIG. 2 A mailbox named "Project C related" is added to P1. Anyone who "shares" a mailbox can change the sorting rules, even if it is not the user who owns the "shared" mailbox. In this respect, "quoting" and "sharing" are different.

  The area P1 of the received mail screen X1 shown in FIG. 2 includes the names of other users who are "quoted" or "shared" in addition to the name of the mailbox owned by the user. There is. Among the mailboxes displayed in area P1 of received mail screen X1, information indicating which mailbox the user owns and which mailbox is "quoted" or "shared" is mail It is stored in the personal display mailbox DB 401 (see FIG. 1) of the box DB 301. Specific examples of the format (data structure) of the information will be described later.

(Mailbox Management Device 101)
The mailbox management device 101 manages data stored in the mailbox DB 301. As shown in FIG. 1, the mailbox management device 101 includes a sorting rule editing unit 201, a disclosure state editing unit 202, and a personal display editing unit 203.

(Mailbox DB 301)
As shown in FIG. 1, the mailbox DB 301 includes a personal display mailbox DB 401 and an all mailbox DB 402. In the present embodiment, the mailbox DB 301 is managed by the network server. The personal display mailbox DB 401 is an example of a quote shared information storage unit of the present invention. The all mailbox DB 402 is an example of the sorting rule storage unit of the present invention.

(Personal display mailbox DB 401)
The personal display mailbox DB 401 includes, for each user (user ID), information indicating a mailbox "owned" by the user and information indicating a mailbox of another user "quoted" or "shared". And remember.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of data stored in the personal display mailbox DB 401 (hereinafter referred to as personal display data). In the personal display data shown in FIG. 4, user IDs (USER-A, USER-B,...) For specifying a user and three types of mailbox IDs (00001, 00002,...) , Are associated with each other. The three types of mailbox IDs are a self-owned mailbox ID, a quoted mailbox ID, and a shared mailbox ID. The self-owned mailbox ID is an ID of a mailbox owned by the user. The quoted mailbox ID is the ID of another quoted user's mailbox. The shared mailbox ID is an ID of another shared user's mailbox.

  When the user creates a new mailbox (including copying a mailbox), the personal display data shown in FIG. 4 includes a mailbox ID for identifying the created mailbox, which is owned by the user. It is added as a mailbox ID. On the other hand, when a user "quotes" or "shares" a mailbox owned by another user, the mailbox ID for identifying the mailbox of the other user to be quoted or shared is the quoted mailbox. It is added to the personal display data shown in FIG. 4 as an ID or a shared mailbox ID.

(All mailbox DB 402)
The all mailbox DB 402 stores attribute information lists of all mailboxes. The attribute information of a mailbox is information related to the attribute of the mailbox.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of an attribute information list of mailboxes stored in the all-mailbox DB 402. As shown in FIG. 5, in the attribute information list of the mailbox, each information of mailbox ID, mailbox name, ID (user ID) of owner of mailbox, disclosure state of mailbox, and sorting rule included.

  When the user creates a new mailbox (including "copying" a mailbox), the mailbox attribute information list includes a mailbox ID for identifying the created mailbox and other attribute information. Is added. On the other hand, when the user "quotes" or "shares" a mailbox owned by another user, nothing is changed in the attribute information list of the mailbox shown in FIG.

(Mailbox open state)
As shown in FIG. 5, there are four types of open state of the mailbox: “private”, “shareable”, “quotable”, and “copyable”. Only the owner of the mailbox can change the sorting rule for that mailbox. The operation of the mail processing apparatus 1 when the user performs an operation of changing the sorting rule of the mailbox will be described later.

  "Private" indicates that the mailbox has not been published. In this case, only the owner of the mailbox can "copy", "quote" or "share" the mailbox. The names of the mailboxes of the other users who are "non-public" are not displayed in the area P2 of the received mail screen X1 shown in FIG.

  "Shareable", "quoteable", and "copyable" indicate that the owner of the mailbox permits other users to "share", "quote" and "copy" the mailbox, respectively. . The owner of the mailbox can also set the disclosure range of the mailbox (eg, only one or more specific users, only users in the same group, all users, etc.).

  For example, in FIG. 5, the owner of the mailbox (mailbox ID; 00008) named “project C related” is the user specified by the user ID; USER-C. "Sharing" this mailbox is permitted only to one user identified by the user ID; USER-A. Also, "quoting" this mailbox is permitted for all (all users). Also, "copying" the mailbox is permitted to the two users specified by the user ID; USER-A, USER-B.

(Operation of mail processing device 1)
Several operation examples of the mail processing device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

(Operation example 1; personal display editing process)
Here, it is assumed that the user is permitted to “copy”, “quote”, and “share” mailboxes of other users who are published.

  When mailer 501 displays received mail screen X1 shown in FIG. 2 on display device 503, the user (user ID; USER-A) opens the area P2 of received mail screen X1 via input device 504. Select one mailbox (name; "Project C related", mailbox ID; 00008) of the other user who is being At this time, the received mail screen X3 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the display editing menu screen E in the received mail screen X3 displayed on the display device 503 by the mailer 501 includes three options of “copy”, “quote” and “share”. The user uses the input device 504 to select, for example, “share”. In this case, the mailer 501 transmits an editing request for personal display to the personal display editing unit 203 of the mailbox management apparatus 101.

  When the personal display editing unit 203 receives an edit request for personal display from the mailer 501, the personal display editing unit 203 accesses the personal display mailbox DB 401 of the mailbox DB 301. Then, in the data (see FIG. 4) stored in the personal display mailbox DB 401, the personal display editing unit 203 is a user ID; a mailbox ID corresponding to a mailbox selected by the user for USER-A; Attach 00008.

  FIG. 7 shows personal display data stored in the personal display mailbox DB 401 after the personal display editing process. In the personal display data shown in FIG. 7, a shared mailbox ID; 00008 is associated with a user ID: USER-A.

(Operation example 2; Editing process of sorting rule)
The sorting rule editing process executed by the sorting rule editing unit 201 of the mailbox management apparatus 101 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The user can change the sorting rule of the mailbox owned by the user and the sorting rule of the shared mailbox. When mailer 501 is displaying received mail screen X1 shown in FIG. 2 on display device 503, the user is in the area P1 of received mail screen X1 with his own mail box (name; “Project A related”) Choose). At this time, a menu screen for changing the attribute information of the mailbox (hereinafter, referred to as an attribute editing menu screen) is displayed on the display device 503.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram in which the attribute editing menu screen F is displayed in the received mail screen X4. As shown in FIG. 8, the attribute editing menu screen F includes four options of “change of name”, “deletion”, “change sorting rule”, and “change open state”. When “rename” is selected, the user can change the name of the selected mailbox (“project A related”). Further, when the user selects “delete”, the name of the selected mailbox is erased from the received mail screen X4, and the information on the selected mailbox is deleted from the mailbox DB 301.

  Here, it is assumed that the user selects “sorting rule change” from the attribute editing menu screen F. In this case, the mailer 501 transmits a sorting rule editing request to the sorting rule editing unit 201 of the mailbox management apparatus 101 together with information (for example, a mailbox ID) indicating the mailbox selected by the user.

  When the sorting rule editing unit 201 receives from the mailer 501 a request for editing the sorting rule of the mailbox, the sorting rule editing unit 201 starts editing processing of the sorting rule.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the editing process of the sorting rule performed by the sorting rule editor 201.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the sorting rule editing unit 201 receives, from the mailer 501, a request for editing the sorting rule regarding the mailbox selected by the user (S101). The sorting rule editing unit 201 refers to the personal display data (see FIG. 4) stored in the personal display mailbox DB 401, and the type of the mailbox selected by the user is (A) “owned” or “shared”. It is determined whether there is one or (B) "quote" (S102).

  When the type of mailbox selected by the user is “owned” or “shared” (S102 (A)), the sorting rule editing unit 201 receives information input by a user operation for editing the sorting rule (S103).

  For example, when the user (user ID; USER-A) selects a mailbox (name; “project A related”, mailbox ID; 00002) owned by the user, the sorting rule editing unit 201 changes the sorting rule. A screen for this purpose (hereinafter referred to as a sorting rule change screen) is displayed. Here, the sorting rule editing unit 201 refers to the attribute information list (see FIG. 5) stored in the all mailbox DB 402, and the operated user (user ID; USER-A) and the selected mail. Check that the box (mailbox ID; 00002) is linked. Also, the sorting rule editing unit 201 refers to the all mailbox DB 402 to check the sorting rule conditions associated with the mailbox (name; “project A related”, ID: 00002) selected by the user. .

  FIG. 10 shows an example of the sorting rule change screen M that the sorting rule editing unit 201 causes the display device 503 of the terminal 10 to display. As shown in FIG. 10, in the sorting rule change screen M, for example, buttons (“Add”, “Edit”, “Delete”) for accepting user operation and conditions of the sorting rule (for example, destination of received mail ( TO) includes proj-a@example.com).

  Here, on the sorting rule change screen M, the user performs an operation of adding a new condition of the sorting rule, for example, “Subject includes“ Project A ””, using the input device 504. Thereafter, the user presses the "add" button of the input device 504.

  FIG. 11 shows the sorting rule change screen M ′ displayed on the display device 503 after the user adds a new condition of the sorting rule. In the sorting rule change screen M ′ shown in FIG. 11, a new condition of the sorting rule “the title includes“ project A included ”” is added.

  After receiving the above-described information input by the user operation for changing the classification rule in S103 of FIG. 9, the classification rule editing unit 201 stores the result of the change of the classification rule based on the user operation in the all mailbox DB 402 It is reflected in the attribute information list of the existing mailbox (S104).

  FIG. 12 shows an attribute information list in which the result of the change of the sorting rule based on the user operation is reflected. In the attribute information list of the mailbox shown in FIG. 12, the new condition of the sorting rule, “Subject includes“ Project A ”” is linked to the mailbox (mailbox ID; 00002) selected by the user. ing.

  On the other hand, in S102 of FIG. 9, when the type of the mailbox selected by the user is "quote" (B in S102), the sorting rule editor 201 executes an error response (S105). For example, the sorting rule editing unit 201 may display an error screen on the display device 503 of the terminal 10 or displays an error message that “the user is not authorized to change the sorting rule of the mailbox selected by the user”. It may be displayed on the device 503.

  This is the end of the editing process of the sorting rule by the sorting rule editing unit 201.

(Operation example 3; editing process of open state)
The editing processing of the disclosure state performed by the disclosure state editing unit 202 of the mailbox management apparatus 101 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 16.

  Users can change the public status of their own mailbox. When mailer 501 displays received mail screen X1 shown in FIG. 2 on display device 503, the user uses input device 504 to select a mail with the name “project A related” in area P1 of received mail screen X1. Do the operation to select the box. At this time, as shown in FIG. 13, the attribute editing menu screen F is displayed in the received mail screen X5.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the user selects “change open state” from the attribute edit menu screen F. In this case, the mailer 501 transmits, to the disclosure status editing unit 202 of the mailbox management apparatus 101, an editing request in the disclosure status along with information (for example, a mailbox ID) indicating the mailbox selected by the user.

  When receiving the edit request of the open state of the mailbox from the mailer 501, the open state editor 202 starts the edit processing of the open state.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a flow of editing processing of the public state performed by the public state editing unit 202.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the disclosure state editing unit 202 receives an editing request of the disclosure state from the mailer 501 (S201). When the edit request of the release state is received from the mailer 501, the release state editing unit 202 refers to the attribute information list (see FIG. 5) stored in the all mailbox DB 402, and the type of mailbox selected by the user. It is determined whether (A) is "owned" or (B) "quoted" or "shared" (S202).

  When the type of mailbox selected by the user is "owned" (S202 (A)), the disclosed state editing unit 202 receives an operation to change the disclosed state (hereinafter referred to as "exposed state change screen"). ) Is displayed on the display device 503 (S203). On the other hand, when the type of the mailbox selected by the user is "quote" or "share" (S202 (B)), the open state editor 202 executes an error response (S105). For example, the disclosure state editing unit 202 may display an error screen on the display device 503 of the terminal 10 or displays an error message stating that “the user is not authorized to change the sorting rule of the mailbox selected by the user”. It may be displayed on the device 503.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of the disclosure state change screen N displayed on the display device 503 by the disclosure state editing unit 202 in the case of (A) in step S202. As shown in FIG. 15, on the disclosure state change screen N, for example, buttons ("Add", "Edit", and "Delete") for accepting information input by user operation, and disclosure ranges of mailbox (for example, USER- B, all, USER-D) are displayed.

  In step S203, in the disclosure state change screen N shown in FIG. 15, the user uses the input device 504 to, for example, disclose the disclosure range regarding the authority of “shareable” from “USER-B” to “section A affiliation” Do the operation to change to. Also, the user changes, for example, the disclosure range regarding the right of “quote” for the mailbox from “all” to “group A belonging”. This change is transmitted from the mailer 501 to the disclosure state editing unit 202 as information input by a user operation for editing the disclosure state. In the present embodiment, the user groups pointed to by “Department A affiliation” and “Group A affiliation” are defined in advance, and based on the definition, the public state editing unit 202 selects “Department A affiliation” and It is assumed that it is possible to specify a user included in "group A member".

  After accepting the information input by the operation of editing the disclosure state from the user in S203 of FIG. 14, the disclosure state editing unit 202 stores the result of the change of the disclosure state based on the user operation in the all mailbox DB 402. It is reflected in the attribute information list of the mailbox (S204).

  FIG. 16 shows the disclosure state change screen N 'in which the disclosure range of the mailbox has been changed by the disclosure state editing unit 202 in step S204. In the disclosure state change screen N ′ illustrated in FIG. 16, the disclosure range regarding the authority of “Shareable” is “member belonging to department A”, and the disclosure range regarding the authority “quoting” is “member belonging to group A”. That is, the users included in the “Department A affiliation” can “share” the mailbox, and the users included in the “Group A affiliation” can “cite” the mailbox.

  FIG. 17 shows the attribute information list reflecting the result of the change of the sorting rule based on the user operation. In FIG. 17, the disclosure range of the mailbox (mailbox ID; 00002) selected by the user is changed to “Department A member” for the “Shareable” authority, and for the “Citationable” authority. It has been changed to "Group A members".

(Effect of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the user can “copy”, “quote” and “share” the mailboxes owned by other published users according to the authority given to the user. A user can easily create a mailbox having the same sorting rule (attribute) as a mailbox owned by another user by “copying” a mailbox owned by another user. In addition, when the sorting rule of the "quoted" mailbox is changed, the result of the change can be reflected in real time on the sorting rule of the "quoted" mailbox. Further, the user can easily change the sorting rule of the mailbox by “sharing” the mailbox owned by the other user. Thus, the mail processing apparatus according to the present embodiment can improve the convenience when a plurality of users use the same sorting rule.

Second Embodiment
In this embodiment, the mail processing apparatus limits the disclosure range of the mailbox by cooperating with the directory server.

(E-mail processing device 2)
The configuration of the information processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mail processing device 2. As shown in FIG. 18, the mail processing device 2 differs from the mail processing device 1 shown in FIG. 1 in that the mailbox management device 601 includes a sorting rule editing unit 201, a disclosure state editing unit 202, and a personal display editing unit 203. In addition to the above, the directory reference unit 204 is further included.

  The directory server 20 manages information on departments and groups in an organization, an organization, or a mechanism.

  The directory reference unit 204 is information (for example, a user ID) for specifying a user who belongs to a department (for example, department A, B,...) And a group (for example, a department A belonging person) from the directory server 20. To get

  The publishing state editing unit 202 is configured such that the directory referring unit 204 selects a department and a group based on the information acquired from the directory server 20 in a publishing range (a user who is permitted to “copy” a mailbox, “quote” and “share” Present to the user as an option. That is, the disclosure state editing unit 202 causes the display device 503 to display the disclosure state change screen N (see FIG. 15) for the editing processing of the disclosure state (see FIG. 14). Therefore, the user can select any of the options including the department and the group.

(Effect of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of this embodiment, in the directory server, information on departments and groups in an organization, an organization, or a mechanism is managed. The mail processing apparatus receives, from the directory server, information for specifying a user who belongs to a department and a group. In addition, the department and group received from the directory server are presented to the user as options of the disclosure range of the mailbox. The user can designate all users belonging to a department or a group as disclosure scope at one time by selecting the presented department or group.

Third Embodiment
In the present embodiment, an example of a hardware configuration of a mail processing apparatus realized by a computer device will be described. The mail processing apparatus described in the first and second embodiments and the mail processing apparatus described in the fourth and fifth embodiments described later can be realized by the hardware configuration described in the present embodiment.

(E-mail processing device 3)
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the configuration of the mail processing device 3 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 19, the mail processing device 3 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 31, a random access memory (RAM) 32, a storage device 33, an input / output device 34, and a communication interface 35.

  The function of the mail processing device 3 is the same as the function of the mail processing device 1 or 2 of the first or second embodiment. That is, in the mail processing device 3, each function block (sorting rule editing unit 201, public state editing) included in the mail processing device 1 or 2 of the first or second embodiment is executed by the CPU 31 executing the program read into the RAM 31. The operation of the unit 202, the personal display editing unit 203, and the directory reference unit 204) is realized. The program is stored in advance in the storage device 33.

  The storage device 33 includes a mailbox DB 301 provided in the mail processing devices 1 and 2 according to the first and second embodiments.

  The input / output unit 34 inputs / outputs data to / from an external device of the mail processing unit 3. The input / output device 34 may include, for example, a user interface such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  The communication interface 35 is used by the mail processing device 3 to communicate with the outside. The communication interface 35 may include, for example, a communication unit to communicate with the mailer 501 (see FIG. 1).

(Effect of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the functions of the mail processing apparatus are realized as hardware using computer resources such as a CPU and a memory (RAM). Therefore, a plurality of users can easily change the sorting rule of the mailbox.

Embodiment 4
In the present embodiment, the minimum configuration for achieving the object of the present invention will be described.

(E-mail processing device 4)
FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mail processing device 4 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 20, the mail processing device 4 includes a mailbox management unit 41, a sorting rule storage unit 42, and a quote sharing information storage unit 43.

  The sorting rule storage unit 42 stores the sorting rule for sorting the e-mail received by the mailer into the mail box.

  The quote sharing information storage unit 43 stores information indicating the mailbox of another user being quoted or shared.

  The mailbox management unit 41 manages information of the sorting rule stored in the sorting rule storage unit 42 and information indicating the quoted or shared other user mailbox stored in the quote shared information storage unit 43.

(Effect of this embodiment)
According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the mailer refers to the citation shared information storage unit and displays the mailboxes of the other users who are being quoted as if they are owned by the user. Also, the mailer refers to the citation sharing information storage unit and permits the user to change the sorting rule of the mailbox of the other shared user. The mailbox management unit reflects the result of the change of the sorting rule by the user in the sorting rule storage unit. Therefore, the convenience in the case where a plurality of users use the same sorting rule can be improved.

Fifth Embodiment
The configurations of the mail processing devices 1 to 4 described in the first to fourth embodiments can be applied to electronic mail client software other than web mail.

  Furthermore, the configurations of the e-mail processing apparatuses 1 to 4 described in the first to fourth embodiments can be applied to other than the e-mail system. For example, in the business notification system, when “sorting” or “quoting” the sorting rule of the notification, the configurations of the mail processing devices 1 to 4 described in the first to fourth embodiments can be used.

(Effect of this embodiment)
Even with the configuration of the present embodiment, the same effect as the mail processing device described in the first to fourth embodiments can be obtained. Therefore, it is possible to provide e-mail client software or a business notification system in which a plurality of users can easily change the sorting rule of the mailbox.

  The present invention has been described above by taking the above-described embodiment as an exemplary example. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. That is, the present invention can apply various aspects that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention.

  The present invention can be used, for example, for web mail or e-mail client software.

1 to 4 mail processing apparatus 41 mailbox management section 42 sorting rule storage section 43 citation sharing information storage section 101 mailbox management apparatus 201 sorting rule editor section 202 open state editor section 203 personal display editor section 204 directory reference section 401 personal display mail Box DB
402 All Mailbox DB
501 Mailer 601 Mailbox Management Device

Claims (10)

Sorting rule storage means for storing sorting rules for sorting emails received by the mailer into mailboxes.
Citation shared information storage means for storing information indicative of another user's mailbox being quoted or shared;
Mailbox management means for managing information of the sorting rule stored by the sorting rule storage means, and information indicating the user's other quoted or shared user's mailbox stored by the citation shared information storage means;
An electronic mail processing apparatus comprising: When the user performs an operation of quoting a mailbox of another user stored by the sorting rule storage unit, the mailbox management unit is configured to store the cited mail stored by the quote sharing storage unit. The e-mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the box is updated. When the user performs an operation of sharing another user's mailbox stored by the sorting rule storage unit, the mailbox management unit is configured to store the shared mail stored by the quote sharing storage unit. The e-mail processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the box is updated. The mailbox management means
The sorting rule editing means for editing the information on the sorting rule of the mailbox owned by the user and the information on the sorting rule of the other user's mailbox shared by the sorting rule storage means is stored. The electronic mail processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The mailbox management means
The personal display editing means according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a personal display editing means for editing information of the quoted or shared mailbox of the other user stored in the citation shared information storage means. The electronic mail processing device according to claim 1. The mailbox management means
The electronic mail process according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a public state editing unit which permits or prohibits a user other than the mailbox owner to quote or share the mailbox. apparatus. The open state editing means
The e-mail processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein only a specific one or more other users are permitted to quote or share a mailbox owned by the user. The directory server further comprises directory reference means for acquiring user group information managed by the directory server with reference to the directory server,
8. The public status editing means according to claim 6, wherein the public directory editing means permits or forbids the user group acquired by the directory referring means from the directory server to quote or share the mailbox owned by the user. The electronic mail processing device according to claim 1. Storing a sorting rule for sorting mails received by the mailer into mailboxes;
Storing information indicative of another user's mailbox being quoted or shared;
Managing the information of the sorting rule and the information indicating the mailbox of another user who is quoted or shared. Storing a sorting rule for sorting mails received by the mailer into mailboxes;
Storing information indicative of another user's mailbox being quoted or shared;
A program for causing a computer device to execute management of information on the sorting rule and information indicating a mailbox of another user quoted or shared.

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