JPH0510855B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an e-mail system, and in particular to an e-mail system that improves the control of so-called broadcast e-mail communication, in which e-mail messages with the same content are sent to multiple destinations. Regarding control method.

2. Description of the Related Art E-mail systems that store and exchange messages in the form of digital data, which can be processed by electronic computers, are becoming popular as part of general business processing systems within companies.

One of the service functions of such a system is a service that allows one sender to specify multiple destinations in one email message, and automatically generates multiple emails with the same message and sends them to the specified destinations. ,
Generally, this kind of communication is called broadcast.

Since the flow of broadcast-like documents is frequently observed in office systems, it is expected that the ratio of broadcasts to all emails in such email systems is large, and one of the most important functions is It is one.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of an e-mail system.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a main body system of the computer including a central processing unit, main memory, etc., 2 a relatively large-capacity storage device for storing data such as programs, control information, and mail messages, and 3 a terminal device.

The storage device 2 is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk storage device, and generally a plurality of magnetic disk storage devices are provided so as to satisfy the required storage capacity.

The terminal device 3 includes, for example, a keyboard device, a display device, a printing device if necessary, and a control device that controls these devices and also controls data transmission with the main system device 2.

This system receives mail text information sent from one of the terminal devices 3 under the control of the main body system 1 and stores it in the storage device 2 .

The destination designation information and other control information for the mail message are added to the e-mail message to be sent, and the destination device 3 that is not yet sent is identified from the control information by a program executed on the main system device. and performs transmission processing to the terminal device 3.

Generally, in this sending process, a mail message is not immediately sent to the designated sending destination device 3. That is, an area of the storage device 2 is allocated corresponding to each terminal device 3, and a reception file for each terminal device is configured using the area, and the mail text received by the main system device 2 is sent to the designated destination terminal device. It is stored in the receive file assigned to No. 3.

The mail text is actually sent to the destination terminal device 3 when the terminal device 3 sends a message and inputs a request to receive the arriving mail text to the main body system device 1. 2 sequentially reads out the mail texts that have arrived in the receiving file of the terminal device 3 and transmits them to the terminal device 3.

Based on the above control method, when controlling broadcasting in a conventional e-mail system, a broadcast mail text input from the sending terminal device 3 is sent to each of the multiple terminal devices specified by the destination designation information. Copy and store it in the received file.

Therefore, when a reception request is subsequently received from the terminal device 3 on the receiving side, the main system device 2 sends the broadcast mail message from the reception file to the terminal device 3 in the same way as a normal single destination mail message. Send.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

According to the above-mentioned conventional method, the broadcast mail text is copied as many times as the number of designated recipients and stored in multiple receiving files in the storage device 2.
The entire system occupies a relatively large amount of storage space at one time. In addition, since the processing load on the main system device 1 and storage device 2 for this purpose becomes intensively large, some kind of improvement has been desired, especially in systems where the ratio of broadcasting is high as described above.

[Means for solving problems]

An object of the present invention is to provide a control method that can improve the processing efficiency of broadcasting in an e-mail system.

The purpose of this is to provide an e-mail system that has a storage means for e-mail messages and a function of transmitting information about the e-mail messages to a destination specified for the e-mail messages stored in the storage means. If there are different designated destinations, retaining the email text in the storage means common to the designated destinations,
A mail control block that is managed by a mail identification number is provided corresponding to the mail text, and the mail control block includes at least information that identifies the storage area of the mail text on the storage means, and information that identifies the storage area of the mail text on the storage means. The information indicating the specified recipients who have not yet received the email and all other control information necessary to control the reception of the email is retained, and for each recipient, the information indicating the arrival of the email is stored. This is achieved by the e-mail control scheme of the present invention, which is configured to retain only the e-mail identification number.

[Effect]

That is, instead of creating a copy of the broadcast mail text for each destination, it is stored as a common mail text. In order to be able to access the mail text when a reception request is made by the terminal device 3, when accepting the broadcast mail text, the main system device 1 stores the broadcast mail text in the reception file for each terminal device. Instead of storing a copy of the above, for example, the storage area address of the common mail text or control information corresponding thereto is stored.

In this way, just one broadcast message needs to be stored in the storage device, just like a normal mail message, and both the storage capacity and the processing load on the storage device and main system device are reduced.

〔Example〕

In one embodiment of the present invention, the configuration of the e-mail system is similar to that shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of data in the storage device 2 in one embodiment of the present invention.

The main system device 1 is, as in the past, a calling terminal device 3.
When receiving an e-mail transmission request from , first, destination designation information and other control information regarding the e-mail are received.

When recognizing that it is a broadcast mail from the destination designation information, etc., a mail control block 11 is created in the mail management file 10 in the storage device 2.

The mail control block 11 is a control block that is created for each mail text and holds all control information regarding the mail text. For example, each block is managed by assigning a unique mail identification number within the system.

This mail identification number can satisfy both uniqueness within the system and ease of access by making it match the storage record address that indicates the storage area of each mail control block 11 in the mail management file 10, for example. can.

As described above, the mail control block 11, which is accessed by the mail identification number, includes at least an index indicating the storage area of the mail text to be managed by the control block, and a designated destination of the mail text. Stores information indicating.

The index of the mail text storage area is, for example, the file name of the mail text file created each time a mail is sent, and is stored in the mail control block 11 as the mail name 12.

Generation of the file name, access control to the mail text file based on the file name, and other management related to the file can be performed using an ordinary file management system.

The designated destination information is, for example, a terminal device address defined by this e-mail system, and is stored as a destination address list 13.

An erasure display column 16 is provided for each destination address in the destination address list 13, and its function will be described later.

The mail control block 11 may also store other information 14 necessary for mail management or service convenience, such as the sender of the mail, the title of the mail, and the date of sending. For confirmation etc. when accessing 11.
The mail identification number 15 is also stored.

After setting the mail control block 11, the main body system 1 receives the mail text from the sending terminal device 3 and stores it in the mail text file 20.

As mentioned above, the mail text file 20 is allocated a storage area in the storage device 2 by the file management system, and is stored in the mail name 12 of the mail control block 11.
shall be instructed by.

After completing the input of the mail text, each terminal device 3 uses the specified destination address (terminal device address) stored in the destination address list 13.
The mail identification number 15 is sequentially accessed and added to the incoming mail list 31 of the received file 30 by sequentially accessing the receiving files 30 assigned to the receiving file 30.

The above process is executed for all specified destinations to complete the broadcast mail sending process.

When the receiving terminal device 3 is activated and a mail reception request is input, the main body system 1 reads out the incoming mail list 31 of the receiving file 30 assigned to the terminal device 3.

By copying the mail identification number 15 stored therein, access the mail control block 11, access the mail text file 20 by the mail name 12, read the mail text from the file, and receive it. It is sent to the terminal device 3 that requested it.

Once this email text is sent to the terminal device 3,
The main system device 1 receives the treatment designation from the terminal device 3.

This treatment designation specifies whether the mail actually received by the terminal device 3 may be saved or deleted for that terminal device 3. However, if there is no specific designation, a system may be adopted in which it is assumed that deletion designation has been given, or a system in which there is no storage designation.

For storage designation, processing such as moving the corresponding mail identification number in the incoming mail list 31 to another list for storage mail is performed.

If deletion is designated (or if it is determined that deletion is implicitly designated), the corresponding mail identification number in the incoming mail list 31 of the terminal device 3 is deleted.

Also, the corresponding destination address in the destination address list 13 of the mail control block 11 is searched.

The destination address list 13 has an erasure display column 16 for each destination address as described above. All of the contents shall be set to be saved and displayed during the mail sending process.

When a corresponding destination address is detected in the deletion designation process, the display is changed to a deletion display to indicate that transmission has been completed for the destination and this mail text is no longer needed.

After that, the erase display field 16 of the destination address list 13 is scanned, and if the erase display column 16 of the section with valid destination addresses is all erased, all the specified destinations will receive this e-mail. This indicates that you have finished receiving the email, so delete it from your system.

That is, the mail name 12 of the mail control block 11
The area of the mail text file 20 specified by is released, the related management information is invalidated, and the mail control block 11 itself is also invalidated.

Note that this process is performed separately from the reception process by, for example, scanning the mail management file 10 periodically.
You may also do so.

In the above, email has been explained as a broadcast email, but normal email with a single designated recipient is also controlled in exactly the same way as the explanation above, assuming that the only difference from broadcast is the number of designated recipients. It is clear that it can be done.

Alternatively, ordinary mail in the above sense may be handled differently from broadcasting using the conventional control method, and such a mixed method can be easily constructed from the conventional method and the above explanation. I can do it.

The above has been explained as an e-mail system consisting of a single system, but in the case of an e-mail system with multiple systems connected to each other as shown in Figure 2, we will explain about broadcast mail that spans the systems. , a copy of the broadcast mail containing the destination designation information is transferred between the systems, and the control described above is executed in each system for the destinations specified within the system itself.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency of processing related to broadcast mail, reduce the amount of storage required, etc., thereby significantly improving the performance and economic efficiency of the e-mail system. It has industrial effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an internal configuration diagram of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the e-mail system. In the figure, 1 is the main system device, 2 is the storage device, 3 is the terminal device, 10 is the mail management file, 11 is the mail control block, 12 is the mail name, 13 is the destination address list, 20 is the mail text file, 30 indicates the received file.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an electronic mail system having a storage means for mail texts and having a function of transmitting information of the mail texts held in the storage means to a specified destination, When the mail address has a plurality of different designated destinations, the mail control block is configured to store the mail text in the storage means common to the designated destinations, and to manage the mail text using the mail identification number in correspondence with the mail text. and the mail control block includes at least information identifying the storage area of the mail text on the storage means, information indicating the specified recipient who has not received the mail text, and other information for controlling reception of the mail. The electronic mail is characterized in that the electronic mail is configured such that it retains all the control information necessary for the mail, and for each destination, retains only the mail identification number as information indicating the arrival of the mail. control method.