JPH05191450A - Message communication processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the message communication processing system in which a mail storage device is effectively utilized, the erasure of an important mail is prevented from being erased from the mail storage device and the load of the receiver side is relieved. CONSTITUTION:A message among communication terminal equipments 2-4 is stored in a mail storage section 10 of a mail processing unit 1. When no registration request nor an extract request comes from the communication terminal equipments 2-4, a main control section 7 discriminates whether or not a mail quantity of a mail storage section 10 exceeds a prescribed value and when the quantity is exceeded, an importance rank of each mail is retrieved and a mail whose rank E being a lowest importance is selected. When plural mails of the rank E are in existence, a mail whose reception date is oldest is selected and the communication terminal equipments 2-4 of the receiver side are called and the mail is sent to them or the mail is erased from the mail storage section 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to message communication composed of a communication system capable of processing at least one media information of multimedia, and a center device having a function of storing and exchanging communication messages comprising the media information. Regarding processing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a communication system capable of processing at least one media information of multimedia and a function of storing and exchanging communication messages including the media information, instead of a method of transmitting information by using a physical transportation means. An electronic mail system for electronically transmitting and receiving information is known as a message communication processing system configured with a center device having a. Since this system has advantages over conventional physical transportation means in terms of information processing capability and immediacy, it is considered to be popular in the future.

In such an electronic mail system, the communication message is stored in the mail storage device of the center apparatus until it is processed by the recipient, so that the recipient processes the communication message stored in the mail storage device. If this is not possible, the amount of accumulated mail approaches the capacity limit of the mail storage device, and it becomes impossible to store new incoming mail in the mail storage device.

Conventionally, in this type of electronic mail system, the sender sets a valid period for outgoing mails and automatically deletes mails exceeding the valid period from the mail storage device in order to solve the above problems. A method and a method that allows the recipient to select whether to keep or delete the received mail have been proposed.

[0005]

However, in the former method of automatically erasing the mail exceeding the valid period from the mail storage device, since the sender sets the valid period in the outgoing mail, even if the mail storing There is a problem that mails are deleted even when the device has sufficient capacity, and the mails are deleted regardless of their importance. In the latter method, which allows the recipient to select whether to keep or delete the received mail, the recipient must perform the selection process each time the mail is received in order to secure the capacity of the mail storage device. However, there is a problem that the burden on the receiver side increases.

In view of the above conventional problems, the present invention makes it possible to effectively use the mail storage device, prevent important mail from being deleted from the mail storage device, and reduce the burden on the recipient side. It is an object of the present invention to provide a message communication processing system capable of reducing

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a communication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving at least one piece of media information and outputting reception information, and a mail storage for storing mail between the communication terminals. In the message communication processing system having a center device including means, the center device monitors the amount of mail in the mail storage means, and the monitoring means causes the mail amount in the mail storage means to have a predetermined value. When it is detected that
It has a mail output means for selecting the mail of the lowest importance rank and outputting it to the communication terminal on the receiving side, and an erasing means for erasing the mail output by the mail output means from the mail storing means. Characterize.

[0008]

According to the present invention, when the amount of mail in the mail storage means exceeds a predetermined value, the mail of the rank having the lowest importance is selected and output to the communication terminal on the receiving side. , Deleted from the mail storage means. Further, when there are a plurality of mails having the lowest importance rank, the mail having the oldest reception date and time is selected. Therefore,
It is possible to effectively use the mail storage device, prevent important mail from being deleted from the mail storage means, and reduce the burden on the recipient side.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a message communication processing system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data format in the message communication processing system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the mail processing device of FIG.
4 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the operation of the mail print / erase processing routine of FIG. 3.

In the message communication processing system shown in FIG. 1, a mail processing apparatus 1 which is a center apparatus and a plurality of communication terminals 2 to 4 are connected via a network 5.
Each of the communication terminals 2 to 4 is composed of a personal computer or a workstation, and has a device such as a printer that outputs a received mail. The network 5 includes a public network such as a digital data network, a leased line, a telephone network, an ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Data Network), and a private network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and a PBX (Private Branch Exchange).

The mail processing device 1 is a center device for storing and exchanging communication messages between the communication terminals 2 to 4, and includes a main control unit 7, a communication control unit 8, a main storage unit 9, a mail storage means and The mail storage unit 10 serving as a re-accumulation unit, a frame setting unit 11, a clock unit 12, and a secondary storage unit 13 are included. The main controller 7 has a CPU (central processing unit) and its peripheral circuits, and controls the entire mail processing device 1 based on a program as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The communication control unit 8 controls the connection with the communication terminals 2 to 4 via the network 4, and the main storage unit 9 stores the programs shown in FIGS. Etc. are stored.

The mail storage unit 10 has a mailbox (MB) assigned to each of the communication terminals 2 to 4, and is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk device. Frame setting unit 11
Is used to add the lowest rank E of the mail to the importance rank frame 18 and to add the incoming date and time to the received date and time frame 19, for which the clock unit 12 sets the current date and time as a frame. Notify the section 11. The secondary storage unit 13 is a large-capacity storage device for temporarily storing a received mail as needed, and for example, the mail storage unit 10
It is composed of a magnetic disk device like the above.

A data format used in such a message communication processing system is roughly constituted by a header portion D1 and a body portion D2 which is a mail body frame 20 as shown in FIG. The header portion D1 is a service type frame 15 indicating a type of service such as a mailbox service or a confidential service, and a sender ID frame 16 indicating a sender ID (identification information).
A receiver ID frame 17 indicating the ID of the receiver, an importance rank frame 18 indicating the importance of the mail, and a reception date / time frame 19 indicating the reception date / time of the mail on the receiving side. Here, the mail body frame 20 of the body portion D2 covers all messages that can be handled as digital data.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment, particularly the operation of the mail processing apparatus 1, will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. For example, when a communication message from the communication terminal 2 to the communication terminal 4 is received via the network 5 and the reception of this communication message is detected by the communication control unit 8, step S
At 1, it is determined whether or not there is an MB registration request. That is,
The service type frame 15 of the received message is checked, and if there is a communication message and the content of the service type frame 15 is an electronic mail, the process proceeds from step S1 to step S2.

In step S2, it is judged whether or not the importance rank is set in the importance rank frame 18 of the received message. If not, it is considered that the importance of the received message is low and the frame setting unit 11 sets the lowest rank E (step S3). Then, this received message is stored and registered in the mailbox of the communication terminal 4 in the mail storage unit 10, and the mail storage unit 1 is also stored.
The mail amount of 0 is stored in the main storage unit 9.

When the communication terminal 4 requests the mail processing device 1 to deliver a message addressed to itself, it makes a mail withdrawal request. When the mail processing device 1 receives this mail withdrawal request, it checks the mailbox of the communication terminal 4 in the main storage unit 9 (step S5),
When there is a message, the message is read from the mail storage unit 10 and the communication terminal 4 is accessed via the network 5.
(Step S6).

If there is no registration request or withdrawal request from the communication terminals 2 to 4, the process proceeds from step S5 to step S7, it is judged whether or not there is a new mail in the mail storage unit 10, and the new mail is confirmed. In this case, the process proceeds to a mail print / erase process routine as shown in detail in FIG. 4 (step S8). In step S8-1 shown in FIG.
It is determined from the information from the above whether the amount of mail in the mail storage unit 10 exceeds a predetermined value (for example, 80% of the capacity of the magnetic disk), and if it exceeds, the process proceeds to step S8-2 and thereafter.

In step S8-2, the importance rank of each mail is searched, and the mail of rank E with the lowest importance is selected. Then, when there are a plurality of mails of rank E, the mail having the oldest reception date and time is selected (step S8-
3) Call the communication terminals 2 to 4 on the receiving side to send the mail. In this case, if the printers of the communication terminals 2 to 4 on the receiving side are not activated, they are activated and the mail is transmitted (steps S8-4, S8-5, S8-).
6) Also, delete from the mail storage unit 10 (step S
8-7), and this routine ends.

Therefore, the main control unit 7 monitors the amount of mail in the mail storage unit 10 based on the information from the main storage unit 9 and, when the amount exceeds the predetermined value, selects the mail of rank E with the lowest importance. If there are a plurality of mails of rank E, the mail having the oldest reception date and time is selected and output to the printers of the communication terminals 2 to 4 on the receiving side.
Since it is deleted from the mail storage unit 10, it is possible to effectively use the mail storage unit 10 and important mail is stored in the mail storage unit 1.
It is possible to prevent deletion from 0 and reduce the burden on the receiver side.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a center provided with a communication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving at least one piece of media information and outputting reception information, and a mail storing means for storing mail between the communication terminals. In the message communication processing system having a device, the center device has monitoring means for monitoring the amount of mail in the mail storage means, and the monitoring means has the amount of mail in the mail storage means exceeds a predetermined value. When the mail is detected, the mail having the lowest importance is selected, the mail output means for outputting the mail to the communication terminal on the receiving side, and the mail outputted by the mail output means are deleted from the mail storing means. Since it has a means, it is possible to effectively use the mail storage means and to prevent important mail from being deleted from the mail storage device. Ok, also, it is possible to reduce the recipient's burden.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a message communication processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data format in the message communication processing system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the mail processing device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of an operation of a mail print / erase processing routine of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 mail processing device (center device) 2 to 4 communication terminal 5 network 7 main control unit 8 communication control unit 10 mail storage unit

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A message communication processing system comprising: a communication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving at least one piece of media information and outputting received information; and a center apparatus having a mail storage means for storing mail between the communication terminals, The center device monitors the amount of mail stored in the mail storage means, and when the monitoring means detects that the amount of mail in the mail storage means exceeds a predetermined value, the importance level is calculated. Has a lowest rank mail and outputs the mail to the communication terminal on the receiving side, and a delete means for deleting the mail output by the mail output means from the mail storage means. Message communication processing system. 2. The message communication processing system according to claim 1, wherein said mail output means selects a mail having the earliest reception date and time when there are a plurality of mails having the lowest importance rank.