JPH04307830A - Mail information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the traffic of a network by inquiring of a mail management equipment about information including the member of mails addressed to users periodically and displaying the result onto a display screen so as to adjust the mail extraction period thereby making the job efficient. CONSTITUTION:A timer control section 25 gives a start signal to a main control section 21 for each setting time and an incoming information acquisition section 31 acquires the management information of a mail as to a mail box reserved by a mail management equipment in response to the start signal. The information includes the member of arrived mails. Then an icon information display control section 32 and a status information control section 33 display the mail management information acquired by the acquisition section 31 onto a display section of the information relating to the mail on the display screen. Thus, the user adjusts a mail extraction period by informing the information including the number of mails addressed to the user to the user, the job is made efficient and the traffic of the network is reduced.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail information processing apparatus, and more particularly to an improvement in a method for notifying mail information to users of the apparatus.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Mail transmission between devices, such as workstations and personal computers, is normally performed via a mail management device that includes a mailbox. The user of each device confirms the arrival of mail by checking the displayed icon or by executing a command in the mail application program. An example of the icon is shown in FIG. (A) in the same figure shows no mail, and (B) in the same figure shows a state with mail.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, the number of emails received varies widely depending on the time and the person in charge. The time required to perform work in response to each email also varies depending on the person in charge. According to the content of each job,
It is efficient to decide how many emails to store in your mailbox and when to retrieve them. However, by displaying the above icon, you can only confirm the presence or absence of an email. Therefore,
Specific information such as the number of incoming emails and whether or not the mailbox can be accessed could only be obtained by opening the inbox and actually receiving the emails.

[0004] For this reason, not only is the above-mentioned efficient operation not possible, but even though the total number of e-mails that arrived that day was several, the user ended up receiving the e-mail many times a day. Or, even though a large number of emails have already arrived, you don't notice this and end up having to deal with them after receiving them. Because the login data settings for the box were incorrect, a no-mail icon was displayed, causing problems such as a delay in response. By entering the command as described above, you can check the number of emails that exist in your mailbox. However,
Command input requires understanding of the command. This is troublesome for general users.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Accordingly, in the present invention, in a mail information processing device that sends and receives mail to and from a mail management device including a mailbox, the information processing device is used for the mail management device. an inquiry means for periodically inquiring e-mail management information including the number of e-mails addressed to the person;
The above-mentioned problem is solved by providing a display control means for displaying the result of the inquiry on a display section for information regarding mail on a display screen.

[0006]

[Operation] That is, in the mail information processing apparatus of the present invention realized on a workstation, personal computer, etc., the inquiry means periodically, that is, every time a set time elapses, the inquiry means is called a mail server, etc. An inquiry is made to the mail management device to be used for mail management information including the number of mails addressed to the user of the workstation or the like. As a result of the query,
That is, information such as the number of emails sent from a mail server or the like, or information such as whether login data has not been set, is displayed on the email-related information display section on the display screen by the display control means. Specifically, for example, in the status information display area of the email application program window or in the lower frame of the icon representing the inbox, "...3 emails..."
“Nomail” is displayed.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be explained below based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 2 shows the system configuration of this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a workstation, which includes a main body 2, a keyboard 3, a mouse 4, a display 5, etc. In the figure, 1
Only one block is shown. In this embodiment, a mail information processing device is implemented on this workstation 1. The display 5 corresponds to the display screen of this device. If there are multiple lead lines, the lead line with the code indicating the entire part has an arrow at its tip.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a mail management device (mail server) including a mailbox 71, which stores mail sent from each workstation 1 in the mailbox 7 of its destination.
Store in 1. The mailbox 71 is the mail management device 7
Storage means such as hard disk or memory (not shown)
built on. Each workstation 1 and mail management device 7 are connected to each other via a network (transmission line) such as a transceiver 8 and a coaxial cable 9. Note that 10 is a file management device (file server), 11 is a printer (print server), and transceiver 8,
It is connected to each workstation 1 via a coaxial cable 9, and is used to exchange files and print the contents of designated files onto paper.

FIG. 1 shows the functional configuration of this embodiment. Each function is realized by the central processing unit of the workstation 1 that executes a program on a hard disk (not shown). In the figure, a main control section 21 controls a status information display control section 22, a mail data control section 23, and a console control section 24. The status information display control unit 22 controls the status information display unit 41 (FIG. 4) of the window 6 and the display information of the icons (FIG. 5). Mail data control section 2
3 controls the mail data received from the mailbox 71. The console control unit 24 controls input/output to the screen console panel 44 (FIG. 4).

[0010] The timer control section 25 supplies an activation signal to the main control section 21 every time a set time elapses. The status information display control unit 22 includes an incoming call information acquisition unit 31, an icon information display control unit 32, and a status information display control unit 3.
Consists of 3. The incoming call information acquisition unit 31 responds to the activation signal from the timer control unit 25 and acquires email management information regarding the mailbox 71 held by the email management device 7 . The information includes the number of received emails. The inquiry means 39 of this device is the timer control section 2.
5 and the incoming call information acquisition unit 31. The icon information display control section 32 and the status information display control section 33 are
According to the mail management information acquired by the incoming call information acquisition unit 31, the icon display information and the status information display unit 41 are updated. The display control means 40 of this device is realized by the icon information display control section 32 and the status information display control section 33.

The mail data control section 23 is composed of a mail list data control section 34, a mail data operation section 35, and a mail data acquisition section 36. The mail list data control unit 34 creates list data regarding mails received from the mailbox 71 and controls the list data. Specifically, it displays the list data on the list display section 43, responds to input operations performed on the display, manages pointers regarding storage locations of received mail, and the like. The mail data operation section 35 handles the mail received from the mailbox 71 on the workstation, that is, the body display section 45 of the specified mail.
control and management of display, registration and deletion of mail data and attachment data on the local disk (workstation hard disk).

The mail data acquisition unit 36 accesses the specified mailbox 71, acquires the mail held in the box to the workstation 1 side, and deletes the mail held in the mailbox 71. Let's do it. The console control section 24 includes a menu control section 37 and a button control section 38. Menu control section 37
controls the menu and menu data on the console panel 44 of the screen. The button control section 38 is the mouse 4
Performs input/output processing corresponding to button operations.

FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure for mail management information. This process is executed by the status information display control section 22. The status information display control section 22 is activated by an activation signal issued by the timer control section 25 at predetermined intervals. When activated, the status information display control unit 22 uses the incoming call information acquisition unit 31 to perform connection processing to the mail management device 7 (step S1
). Once connected, the mail management information regarding the user's mailbox 71 at that time is acquired from the mail management device 7 (step S2).

[0014] Next, the status information display control section 22 checks the information on the number of mails included in the management information (step S3). If it is not "0", the answer is "yes". The status information display control unit 22 proceeds to step S4. Then, in the status information display section 41 of window 6, “Department KSPB
"There are 3 emails (letters) in the mailbox name Bunta" is displayed. This process is performed using the status information display control section 33. In this device, the status information display section 41 is one of the display sections for information regarding mail.

[0015] Next, the process proceeds to step S5, and the data of the icon of the design shown in Fig. 5 (C) (the part consisting of the figure and the font of the user's name "Bunta") is displayed as display data in the icon corresponding to the window of Fig. 4. , set. Actual display control of either or both of these windows and icons is determined by the functionality of the window system on which the software in question is running. This icon indicates "mail exists". The display state of the icon is controlled by an icon management program (not shown). The display position on the display 5 is set by the user. The icon information display control unit 32 supplies the identification code to the management program in order to display the icon shown in FIG. 5(C) (step S5). Next, the character string data is supplied to the management program in order to display the characters "3Mails" in the frame 51 at the bottom of the icon. “3Mai
ls" means "number of emails 3". Based on this, Figure 5 (
The entire icon of C) is displayed. This “3Mails”
” is one mode of displaying the query results of this device. Further, the icon display portion of the display 5 serves as another display portion of information regarding mail of this device.

If the number of mails is "0" in step S3, the answer is "no". Status information display control unit 22
In steps S7 to S9, steps S4 to S9
Processing similar to step S6 is performed. However, since there is no email, "3 letters" is "No let".
ter”, and the box 51 at the bottom is “No Mai”.
l". As a result, the entire icon in FIG. 5(B) is displayed.

Note that if login data for the mailbox 71 is not set, the connection to the mail management device 7 fails in step S1. In this case, as a process for connection failure, the management program
Display of the icon of design (A) and “No Lo
Configure the system to supply the string "gin." Such an icon is also an example of a display indicating the inquiry result of this device.

The user can clearly recognize the number of mails addressed to him/her by the status information display section 41 and the display in the frame 51 at the bottom of the icon. When the number of emails determined according to the content of each job or the time to retrieve them has come, the function of the icon management program (not shown) displays the window shown in FIG. ” button and press the button on the mouse 4, or activate an equivalent operation event by pressing the corresponding key. In response to this, the main control section 21 sends the e-mail data control section 23
and performs necessary processing using the console control unit 24. Since these processes are already known,
Only the display contents of window 6 will be briefly explained. The character 61 in the status information display section 41 is "3 emails specified in the highlighted display 64 from the mailbox 71".
"Currently importing into a file in [Active]". When finished, character 62 will be displayed. The date 66, sender 67, and title 68 of these emails are displayed on the list display section 43. When you align the marker 69 with the mail number 3 of code 65 and click the button of the mouse 4, the text display area 45
The contents are displayed.

In this embodiment, only the number of emails is extracted from the acquired email management information and displayed in the status information display section 41 or the frame 51 at the bottom of the icon.
Other management information may also be added. Furthermore, the display position and display form of information regarding email are arbitrary.

[0020]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in the present invention, the inquiry means periodically queries the mail management device for mail management information including the number of mails addressed to the user of the information processing device; The results of the above are displayed on the information display section regarding mail on the display screen using the display control means.

[0021] Therefore, there are the following effects. You can decide how many emails to store in your mailbox and when to retrieve them according to the content of your work, allowing you to work efficiently. There is no need to bother with inputting commands from the keyboard 3. Access to the mail management device from each workstation 1 is performed efficiently, and network traffic is reduced. The burden on the mail management device is reduced. You can recognize the number of incoming calls even when only the icon is displayed. For example, in X-window, tw
Like when using m as a window manager,
On workstations equipped with a function that allows other programs to know information about icons, it is possible to easily check the number of incoming e-mails, etc. even if the windows of other application programs overlap with the icons or windows according to the present invention. It can be recognized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for mail management information according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a window of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a line diagram showing icons of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a line diagram showing conventional icons.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 E-mail information processing device 5 Display screen 7 E-mail management device 39 Inquiry means 40 Display control means 41, 51 E-mail information display section 71 Mail box

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: In a mail information processing device that sends and receives mail to and from a mail management device including a mailbox, an email containing a number of mails addressed to a user of the information processing device is sent to the mail management device. 1. A mail information processing device comprising: an inquiry means for periodically inquiring management information; and a display control means for displaying the result of the inquiry on a display section for mail-related information on a display screen.