JPH02198247A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent mixture of electronic mails of the same name even when plural mails exist by sending identification information of a material designated by a material designation means as an electronic mail together with a mail text. CONSTITUTION:The content of an electronic mail, that is, a mail text is generated by an electronic mail generating section 51. On the other hand, the information required for the processing control of the electronic mail is generated by a mail control information generating section 52. The identification information of a material is generated by the generating section 52 as part of the control information. Mail text information 53 outputted from the generating section 51 and the mail control information 54 outputted from, the generating section 52 are sent to the mail transmission section 55 and sent as one electronic mail. The work station which is going to make transmission at present corresponds directly to the generating sections 51, 52 among work stations 22-1-22-N. Moreover, the mail service 24 corresponds directly to the transmission section 55.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to an e-mail system for sending and receiving e-mails, and in particular, when materials such as references are listed in the e-mail text, processing becomes easier. Regarding email systems.

``Conventional Technology'' With the advancement of office automation, workstations are being installed in various locations in offices. Under such an environment, it becomes possible to send and receive e-mails using workstations within the same office or building, or with other offices using lines such as telephone lines.

By the way, when composing an e-mail, the user often cites previously sent materials or references in the e-mail text.

For example, after sending a letter regarding the schedule of a travel event by e-mail, a letter regarding any changes or additions to the schedule may be sent by e-mail as well. In such a case, quoting the previous letter will make it easier to write the letter, and it will be convenient for the recipient to retrieve the necessary information.

``Problem to be solved by the invention'' However, there is also a problem here. Conventionally, related documents are pointed out in an e-mail message, for example, in a format such as ``Please refer to the communication regarding the schedule of the travel event.'' Therefore, on the recipient side, for example, the title of the document will be used as a reference to retrieve the corresponding correspondence, but if the recipient has previously received multiple e-mails with the same title from other departments or in other years. It may take some time to select the appropriate one. In addition, the author of the email may not recognize the title correctly, and in this case, the user will have to search for a title that includes the words "travel association" or "schedule," making it difficult to find the corresponding letter. There was a possibility that it would take even more time. A similar problem will occur even if an attempt is made to identify the correspondence using other methods such as the date of receipt.

Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system that allows the creator of a mail message to accurately specify materials.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system that allows a recipient of a mail text to accurately and quickly search for a corresponding mail text.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In the invention as claimed in claim 1, as shown in principle in FIG. A material specifying means 12 for specifying the material to appear from among one or more materials, and an e-mail transmitting means for transmitting identification information of the material specified by the material specifying means 12 as an e-mail together with a mail text to a destination. 13 in the e-mail system.

In other words, in the invention described in claim 1, the materials are specified by a method such as displaying an icon for each document on the display and specifying the one cited as the document from among these, and Send the identification information of the material and the mail text to the destination as an e-mail. This eliminates mistakes such as typing the wrong title.

In the invention as claimed in claim 2, there is provided a discriminating means 1 for discriminating the mail text and the identification information of the material from the received e-mail.
5, a mail text display means 16 for displaying the determined mail text, a material search means 17 for searching for the material based on the identification information of the material discriminated by the discriminating means, and a mail text displaying means 16 for displaying the determined mail text; The e-mail system is equipped with a material output means 18 for outputting.

That is, in the invention set forth in claim 2, the discrimination means 15 discriminates the identification information, searches for the corresponding material based on this, and outputs the contents. Therefore, there is no manual search work, and since the materials are identified by identification numbers, there is no need to make a mistake in searching for the materials. If the email text is displayed on the display, display it in one of the multi-windows,
The contents of the document may be displayed in another window. Of course, if audio information is sent as an email first, it will be searched and its contents will be output from the speaker.

"Example" Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Examples.

FIG. 2 shows an overview of a communication system to which an e-mail system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. In this communication system, '11 communication cable 21 that constitutes a local area network such as Ethernet
Above are a plurality of workstations 22-1 to 22-N.
, a file service 23, a mail service 24, a print service 25, and a communication service 26 are respectively connected.

In the case of this embodiment, workstations 22-1 to 22-
Each of N includes a control unit main body 27, a display 28, a keyboard 29, and a mouse 31 as a pointing device.

The file service 23 is for storing files commonly used on this Ethernet, and the mail service 24 is for managing electronic mail. The print service 25 is for printing out documents from the laser printer 35. Communication service 26 is for communicating with other local area networks through line 37. In FIG. 2, a state in which the communication service 26 is connected to a communication service 42 constituting another local area network 41 is shown.

The e-mail system of this embodiment is not only applied between workstations within the same local area network, but also applied to e-mail sent between two local area networks.

FIG. 3 shows the functional configuration of the mail sending side of this electronic mail system. The content of the e-mail, that is, the e-mail text, is created by the e-mail creation section 51. On the other hand, information necessary for e-mail processing control is created by the mail control information creation section 52. The identification information of materials in the present invention is also created by this mail control information creation section 52 as part of the control information. E-mail creation section 51
The mail text information 53 outputted from the mail control information creation section 52 and the mail control information 54 outputted from the mail control information creation section 52 are sent to the mail transmission section 55 and transmitted as one e-mail.

In this embodiment, the e-mail creation section 51 and the mail control information creation section 52 are located at the workstations 22-1 to 22-2.
The workstation currently attempting to send out of N corresponds directly. Further, the mail service 24 directly corresponds to the mail transmission section 55. The expression "directly" is used because the file service 23 and the communication service 26 may be included as part of these parts depending on the form of use.

In contrast, FIG. 4 shows the functional configuration of the mail receiving side of this e-mail. The e-mail is received by the mail receiving section 57. The content of this received e-mail, that is, the e-mail text 58 is displayed in the e-mail display/print section 5
9 and its contents are visually displayed or printed out. The mail control information 61 in the received e-mail is sent to the mail control information interpretation section 62, and it is determined whether or not identification information of the material is included.

When identification information 63 is output as a result from the mail control information interpretation section 62, a material search section 64 searches for materials corresponding to this identification information. At this time, the contents of the material storage management section 65 are referred to. Data 66 of the retrieved materials is sent to the material display/printing section 6 via the material search section 64.
8, where the contents are displayed or printed.

The part shown in FIG. 4 is the workstation 22-
1 to 22-N, the part of the workstation that is currently attempting to receive data, the file service 23, the mail service 24, the print service 25, etc. are involved.

Next, the work performed on the sending side of this electronic mail system will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

Of these, FIG. 5 shows an example of the content displayed on the display of the workstation on the sending side. A window 71 for displaying a mail sheet is opened on the display 28.

In this window 71, there are provided a bibliographical item tank 72 in which the subject, addressee, etc. are written, and a text column 73 in which the mail text is written. Above the bibliographic matter column 72, a command column 74 in which commands are displayed is provided. When the command "Close" in this command field 74 is specified with a cursor (not shown), this mail sheet window 71 is closed. On the other hand, when the command "send" is specified, an email is sent. When the command “specify related document” is selected, the related document is specified as the material to be cited in the text field 73. When this designation is made, the title of the designated related document is automatically displayed in the section labeled "Related Document" in the bibliographic matter field 72.

In the display space on the right side of the mail sheet window 71, icons 75 of each document stored in the document file are displayed.

Here, the document file refers to your own workstation 2.
The file service 23 may be a file stored in the storage device 2, or a necessary file may be called from among the files stored in the file service 23. When the email sender is composing the email,
The icons corresponding to the required materials are sequentially selected, and at the end of the selection, the section labeled "Related Documents" in the bibliographic item column 72 is selected.

The control of the system will be explained based on FIG. 6.

A CPU (central processing unit) on the sending side of this e-mail system, for example, a CPU (not shown) in a workstation on the sending side, monitors the selection of any command in the command field 74 shown in FIG. There is (step ■
, ■). When a "related document" is designated by operating the mouse 31 (FIG. 2) (step 2: Y), it is determined whether at least one icon 75 has been selected so far (step 2). If “related document” is specified with no icon 75 selected (N
), this is an operational error.

Therefore, in this case, an error message is displayed on the display 28 and the process is terminated (step 2).

On the other hand, if the "related document" command is selected after specifying several icons 75 corresponding to materials, i.e., related documents, the unique identification number of the related document is sent by e-mail. It is set in a storage location called a related document control field of a file for e-mail transmission called a sheet file (step ■). Next, the titles of those related documents are also set in the related document control field (step ■). In this way,
Information regarding "related documents" among the e-mail control information will be prepared.

On the other hand, if a command other than "related document" is selected in step (2) (Y), the work for the selected command is executed (step (2)). For example, if "Send" shown in Figure 5 is selected after completing the creation of the email text, the email text and control information stored in the email sheet file are sent together to the destination. It turns out.

FIGS. 7 and 8 specifically represent the work performed on the receiving side.

Of these, FIG. 7 shows an example of the content displayed on the display of the workstation on the receiving side. A window 81 for displaying the received mail sheet is opened on the left half of the display 28.

Further, at the top of the right half, an icon 82 of the "related document" at that time is displayed. A window 83 is opened below these icons 82 for displaying the document contents of the designated icon.

This display 28 initially shows a window 8.
1 and an icon 82 related thereto are displayed. Here, a bibliographic matter column 72 and a text column 73 are displayed in the window 82, and a command column 74 is displayed above them. However, on the mail receiving side, the command "send" does not exist in the command field 74.

If the operator on the receiving side wishes to refer to the material, he or she selects the appropriate icon 82 and opens a window 83. Also displayed in this window are a bibliographic matter field 72, a text field 73, and a command field 74. Information about the "related document" specified by the icon 82 is displayed in the bibliographic matter column 72 and the text column 73. The operator can also know the ``related documents'' that precede this ``related document °'', so depending on the device, by further expanding the window, these preceding ``related documents'' can also be displayed on the same screen. .

FIG. 8 shows the control operation of the receiving side system in the apparatus of this embodiment. A CPU on the receiving side of this e-mail system, for example, a CPU (not shown) of a workstation on the receiving side, monitors the selection of one of the commands in the command field 74 shown in FIG. ■). Then, when "related document search" is instructed by operating the mouse 31 (FIG. 2) (step ■; Y), it is determined whether the icon 82 has been selected so far (step ■).Icon 82 If “Related document search” is instructed without being selected (
N), this is an operational error. Therefore, in this case, an error message is displayed on the display 28 and the process is terminated (step 2).

On the other hand, if the "Related document search" command is selected after specifying the icon 82 corresponding to the material, that is, the related document (step Find the location where the document exists. And if this exists within that workstation, i.e. locally (
Step ■; Y), and the window 83 is opened to display the "related document" (Step ■).

On the other hand, if the "related document" does not exist locally (step ■; N), ! 1. Load the "related document" file from the mote's location onto your workstation (step ■). This will then be displayed on the window 83 (step ■).

Here, the term "related document" being in a remote location means that (1) it exists in another location within your own local area network, and (ii) it exists in another local area network. There is. In case (i), for example, the document file is called up from the file service 23 (FIG. 2) within the user's own local area network. In the case of (ii), in many cases,
The corresponding document file will be called up from the destination local area network. At this time, communication service 26 is used.

- If a command other than "Related document search" is selected in step (2) (Y), the operation for the selected command is executed (step (2)). For example, if the "Close°" command shown in FIG. 7 is selected after reading the mail text, the window 81 will be closed and the mail processing will be completed.

In the embodiment described above, each workstation 22 is provided with one display 28 and information is displayed in a multi-window format. The data may be displayed on separate displays.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the device parts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are distributed among multiple devices of the e-mail system. This allows e-mail users to share it, making the system more flexible. Of course, it is also possible to configure each of the device parts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as dedicated hardware. This allows the cost of the system to be reduced.

Furthermore, although the embodiment deals with electronic documents, the present invention can also be applied to systems that convert voice information into digital information and send it as email messages, and systems that similarly handle image information as email messages. can do.

"Effect of the Invention" As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, the identification information of the material specified by the material specifying means is sent as an e-mail together with the e-mail text, so that e-mails with the same name are Even if there are more than one, confusion can be prevented, and the time required for searching on the receiving side can be shortened.

Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, since identification information can be received, the search for materials is automated, the cost required for the search is reduced, and reliability can be improved.

Furthermore, according to the invention as claimed in claim 3, since icons representing the contents of documents are displayed on the display, it is not only easy to select them, but also to avoid knowing the exact title of each document. Even in such cases, the advantage is that the exact title can be transcribed into the email text simply by pointing to the icon.

Furthermore, according to the invention set forth in claim 4, since it is possible to display the email message and the document in parallel on the same display, it is not only easy to compare the document with the document, but also to combine the two. The advantage is that new documents can be created accurately and quickly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the invention claimed in claim 1, FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the invention claimed in claim 2, and FIGS. This figure is for explaining the e-mail system according to one embodiment, of which Fig. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing an overview of the communication system to which the e-mail system is applied, and Fig. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing the outline of the communication system to which the e-mail system is applied. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the sending side of the e-mail system; FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of the display of the sending side workstation;
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control operation on the sending side, FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of the display of the workstation on the receiving side, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the control operation on the receiving side. 11...Mail text creation means, 12...Document specifying means, 13...E-mail transmission means, 5...
Discrimination means, 16... Mail text display means, 7...
... Material search means, 18 ... Material output means, 2 ... Workstation, 3 ... File service, 4 ... Mail service, 5 ...Print service, 6.42...Communication service. Applicant: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Agent

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A mail text creation means for creating a mail text to be sent by mail; a material specifying means for specifying a material appearing in the mail text from among one or more materials; and specifying the material. 1. An electronic mail system comprising: electronic mail transmitting means for transmitting identification information of the material designated by the means together with the mail text to a destination as an electronic mail. 2. Discrimination means for discriminating the e-mail text and the identification information of the material from the received e-mail, a mail text display means for displaying the discriminated e-mail text, and the identification information of the material discriminated by the discriminating means. What is claimed is: 1. An e-mail system comprising: a material search means for searching for the material based on the search criteria; and a material output means for outputting the content of the retrieved material. 3. A display for displaying the mail text created by the mail text creation means, an icon display means for displaying materials as icons in a window other than the window for displaying the mail text on this display, and necessary icons among these icons. 2. The e-mail system according to claim 1, further comprising a material specifying means for specifying an object with a cursor. 4. The e-mail system according to claim 2, wherein the e-mail text display means and the material output means are respectively assigned to multiple windows on the same display.