JPH0954733A - Electronic mail managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily sample an original mail mechanically even when many reply mails are sent continuously by managing the relation of a transmission mail and a reception mail with transmission and reception managing tables or by a consecutive number, transmission/reception modes and a relational mail. SOLUTION: At the time of mail transmission (S1), the ID of the mail that is the origin of the reply mail when it is the reply mail is described (S3, S4) in a relational mail column in a transmission managing table A together with accessary information such as the identifier(ID) of the transmission mail, a date and hour, and a transmission destination, and the ID of a target mail when it is a forward mail is described (S5). When the mail is received, the ID of the transmission mail when it is the transmission mail that is the origin of the reply mail is described on a reception managing table with the accessary information, and the transmission managing table A is retrieved, and the ID of its own transmission mail when it is its own transmission mail is described on the relational mail column (S9). Relation between the transmission and reception mails of the reply mail is shown clearly in such a way.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is one of electronic communication tools used on a personal computer (PC) or a workstation (WS).
It concerns an electronic mail system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Mail readers exist as electronic mail systems used on PCs and WS, but these are the date and time of the received mail, the sender, and the subject (subject).
Although it displays a list of emails, etc., it does not display a list of emails sent by myself (date, time, destination, subject, etc.). Therefore, the reply (reply email) to the emails sent by me may be related to any email. There was no way to find out.

Therefore, conventionally, for convenience, the contents of the sent mail are quoted in the reply mail, and the reply mail is sent to itself (self-copy).

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional convenient e-mail management method, it is possible to mechanically associate the reply e-mail with the original mail. The only inconvenient way is for a human to read the contents of the email and search for the original email.

Furthermore, when the reply is repeated many times,
It was difficult to mechanically realize the function of finding the original mail (Ogen mail).

The object of the present invention is that the mail sent to search for the original mail or the original mail of the reply mail, which the above-mentioned conventional technique has, must be intentionally stored. Solved the drawback of having to read the contents of the above to make a judgment, and even if the reply mails continued many times, the function to easily find the original mail (Original mail) mechanically could be realized. The purpose is to provide a method for managing electronic mail.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention of the present invention is a management method of an electronic mail system having a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail, in transmitting the electronic mail, It is determined whether the outgoing mail is simple transmission, forwarding or reply, and if the outgoing mail is forwarding or reply, enter the identifier of the original mail in the column indicating the related mail in the sending management table of the mail. When receiving an e-mail, it is determined whether the received mail is a simple reception or an answer. In the case of an answer, the original mail is displayed in the column indicating the original mail in the reception management table of the mail. If the answer is to the mail sent by searching the transmission management table by entering the identifier, the column indicating the related mail in the reception management table of the mail is displayed. To enter your e-mail identifier that it has become a means of e-mail management method according to claim.

Similarly, in the second invention of the present invention, in the first invention, each mail is represented by a block based on the transmission management table and the reception management table of the electronic mail obtained by transmitting and receiving the electronic mail. When the mails are related to each other, the electronic mail management method is characterized in that blocks for displaying each mail are connected by arrows and displayed on the display means.

Similarly, a third invention of the present invention is a method of managing an electronic mail system having a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail, in which an electronic mail is managed by setting a management system for each account and for each mail. , A serial number is added, and in the case of outgoing mail, a code identifying the form at the time of sending and the serial number of the original mail are given, and in the case of receiving mail, a code identifying the form at the time of receiving The electronic mail management method is characterized in that the serial number of the original mail is added.

Similarly, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the above-mentioned third aspect
In the invention of claim 1, based on a management table obtained by a management system, that is, a serial number given in transmission and reception of an electronic mail, a code for identifying a transmission form, a code for identifying a reception form, and Based on the serial number of the email,
When the respective emails are related to each other, the electronic mail management method is characterized in that blocks for displaying the respective emails are connected by arrows and displayed on the display means.

In the prior art, there is no management table for managing outgoing mail as described above.

According to the first aspect of the invention, when mail is transmitted,
In the transmission management table, the identifier of the transmitted mail (hereinafter, I
D), the date and time, the destination, the subject information such as the sending mail, and the reply mail, the ID of the original mail is entered and registered in the related mail field of the sending mail additional information. Also, when a mail is received, in the reception management table, the ID of the outgoing mail that is the source of the reply mail is In-R, together with the auxiliary information of the received mail.
Fill in and register in the email_To field, etc., and further determine whether or not the mail is a mail for his / her own outgoing mail by searching the transmission management table, and fill in / register in the related mail field. It is possible to realize the processing to specify the relationship between the sending and receiving mails of reply mails by the related related mails that have been entered and registered in the sending management table and the receiving management table, and to automatically extract the relationship by the search. To

In the second invention, in the first invention, the relationship between the reply mail and the reply mail is automatically extracted, and the relationship is displayed by connecting with an arrow to improve the convenience.

In the third aspect of the invention, the serial number given to the sent / received mail for each account (user) and the identification code and reply mail etc. in the form at the time of sending, which represents the simple transmission or reply mail etc. Between the reply mail sent and received by the serial number of the original mail and the serial number of the original mail such as reply mail and the identification code of the form at the time of reception that represents simple reception or reply mail etc. It is possible to realize the processing of explicitly specifying the relation of and extracting the relation automatically by the search.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the relationship between the reply mail and the reply mail is automatically extracted, and the relationship is displayed by connecting with an arrow to improve the convenience.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
This will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<< Embodiment Example (1) >> First Embodiment of the Present Invention
FIG. 1 shows a transmission flow of the embodiment. On the other hand, the reception flow of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. An example of the outgoing mail management table (table A) according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3, and a received mail management table (table B) is shown.
Is shown in FIG.

The transmitted mail management table in the present embodiment has a management number No. , ID, content, related email,
It is composed of columns for entering the form. Further, the received mail management table shows the management number No. , ID, In-Rep
It consists of ly_To, contents, related mails, and columns for entering the form.

By the way, the conventional technique supports only the received mail management table of FIG. 4 which does not have a pointer column to the related mail, and the sent mail management table as shown in FIG. Absent.

Using the above FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG.
The operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

Case 1) Operation during simple transmission The process proceeds according to the following procedure. The transmitted mail management table here is shown in FIG.

(A) Register in the table A shown in FIG.

That is, the ID of the transmitted mail is entered in the ID column of table A in FIG. This is the processing of the part s2 in FIG.

(Ii) Select the send processing.

This is selected because it simply transmits (sends). This is the process of s4 and s7 in FIG.

(U) s (send) is input in the form field shown in FIG.

This is the processing of part s10 in FIG.

(E) The column of the related mail shown in FIG.
Leave as 11 (no input).

This is the processing of the part s12 in FIG.

Case 2) Operation during simple reception The process proceeds according to the following procedure. The received mail management table here is shown in FIG.

(A) Register in the table B shown in FIG.

That is, the ID of the received mail is entered in the ID column of table B in FIG. This is the processing of the portion r2 in FIG.

(I) In-Reply_in the received mail
Check if there is a To field.

For normal simple reception, this field is absent. This is the processing of the portion r4 in FIG.

(U) The column of the form shown in FIG. 6 is null.
Leave as No Input.

This is the processing of the portion r6 in FIG.

(E) The related mail field shown in FIG.
Leave as l (no input).

This is the processing of the portion r9 in FIG.

Case 3) Operation at the time of reply (reply) transmission to the received mail The processing proceeds in the following transmission procedure. The same applies to forward transmission. The sent mail management table here is shown in FIG.
The received mail management table is shown in FIG.

(A) The table A shown in FIG. 7 is newly registered.

This is the processing of the portion s2 in FIG.

(Ii) Select the reply processing.

This is a process of replying to a received mail. This is the processing of the portions s4 and s3 in FIG.

(U) In the field of the form shown in FIG. 7, r (reply) is input.

This is the processing of part s6 in FIG.

(E) In the column of the related mail shown in FIG. 7, I of the received mail of the table B shown in FIG.
Enter D.

This is the processing of the portion s9 in FIG.

Case 4) Operation at the time of receiving a reply mail for a mail sent by oneself The processing proceeds according to the following procedure. FIG. 9 shows the transmitted mail management method and FIG. 10 shows the received mail management table.

(A) Register in the table B shown in FIG.

This is the processing of the portion r2 in FIG.

(I) In-Reply_in the received mail
Check if there is a To field.

In the case of reply mail, this field is provided. This is the processing of the portion r4 in FIG.

(U) In-R of table B shown in FIG.
In-Reply_of the received mail is entered in the field of reply_To.
Enter the value in the To field.

This is the I of the mail that was the source of the reply.
It is D. This is the processing of the portion r3 in FIG.

(E) In the column of the form of table B shown in FIG. 10, r (reply) is input.

This is the processing of the portion r5 in FIG.

(O) Confirm whether or not the origin of the reply is one's own mail.

In order to confirm whether or not the mail which is the source of the reply is the mail sent by the user, the ID column of the table A shown in FIG. 9 is searched, and the In-Reply_To field of the received reply mail is changed. Point I
Check if there is a D. This is the processing of the portion r7 in FIG.

(K) Enter the ID of the mail sent by himself in the related mail field shown in FIG.

If it is found in the table A of FIG. 9, it is a reply mail from the other party based on the mail sent by himself. The found mail ID in the table A shown in FIG. 9 is entered in the related mail field of the table B shown in FIG. This is the processing of the portion r8 in FIG.

Case 5) Automatic extraction of the relationship between the mail (a) and the mail (c) when the reply mail (c) to the mail (b) sent by replying to the received mail (a) is received. When the replies are continuous, it is possible to extract the relationship between the two received mails on the way. In this case, cases 2), 3), and 4) are continuously performed. FIG. 11 shows the transmitted mail management table of the table A, and FIG. 12 shows the received mail management table of the table B.

(A) First, the mail (a) is received.

The mail (a) is registered in the table B shown in FIG. This is the processing of the portion r2 in FIG.

The form column in FIG. 12 is left as null. This is the processing of the portion r6 in FIG.

The field of the related mail in FIG. 12 is left as null. This is the processing of the portion r9 in FIG.

(B) Next, the reply mail (b) is transmitted.

The mail (b) is registered in the table A of FIG. This is the processing of the part s2 in FIG.

In the form field of FIG. 11, r is input. This is the processing of the part s6 in FIG.

The ID of the mail (a) shown in FIG. 11 is entered in the related mail field of FIG. This is the processing of part s9 in FIG.

(U) Finally, the reply mail (c) to the mail (b) is received.

Registration in the table B of FIG. 12 is performed. This is the processing of the portion r2 in FIG.

In-Reply_of Table B in FIG.
In the To field, enter the value of the In-Reply_To field of the received mail, that is, the ID of the mail (b).
This is the processing of the portion r3 in FIG.

In the form field of FIG. 12, r is input. This is the processing of the portion r5 in FIG.

By searching the ID column of the table A of FIG. 11 and the ID of the mail (b) exists, the table B of FIG. 12 is searched.
I of the mail (b) is displayed in the column of the related mail of the mail (c) inside
Enter D. This is the processing of the portion r8 in FIG.

As described above, it is possible to extract the relationship between mails that are related to each other, so that the relationship between a plurality of mails can be displayed graphically. An example of a display embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 13 shows a legend of a mail-related viewer, which is an embodiment of a tool for displaying the relationship between mails.

In FIG. 13, one mail is shown by one rectangle. The symbol shown on the upper left outside the rectangular frame represents the ID of the mail shown in this rectangle.

The rectangle shown by the double frame indicates that the mail is currently the focus of attention. There is only one at a time.

The rectangle shown by a thick frame indicates that the mail is a mail that the user has sent in the past. There may be more than one.

The rectangles shown by the thin frames represent the other mails (the mails that the received mail is not paying attention to).

The arrow between the rectangles indicates that the mail of the rectangle B shown at the tip of the arrow is originated from the mail of the rectangle A shown at the source of the arrow. The symbol R shown next to the arrow indicates that when R is r, it is a reply mail to the original mail, and when R is f, it is a forward mail to the original mail.

When the example of the above case 5) is displayed using the legend of FIG. 13, it becomes as shown in FIG. This is where the viewer is started after selecting the mail (c) in the received mail one-column table and the like. The mail can be selected by considering the selection on a normal mail reader.

First, attention is paid to the mail (c) whose ID is currently indicated by IDc. FIG. 14 shows transmitted / received mails related to this mail (c).

In the display, IDb is shown as the related mail.
The mail (b) indicated by and the mail (a) indicated by IDa are displayed. Which email to display
It is determined by extracting the value of the column of the related mail from the transmission / reception mail management table shown in FIG. 11 or 12.

In this case, the selected mail is No. 1 in the table A shown in FIG. Is a mail of A2, the mail of IDb in the related mail column of this row is extracted as a related mail.

Next, the mail relating to IDb is searched for from the table B in FIG. IDa in the column of the related mail in the line of the mail indicated by B1 is extracted as the next related mail.

Extraction is performed in the same manner below, and the N of the table A shown in FIG. 11 in which the column of the related mail is null
o. Reaches the mail of A1 and finishes the search for extraction.

On the display of FIG. 10, the extracted mail (a) and mail (b) are shown in Table A of FIG. 11 and FIG.
It is represented by using information of each ID and form stored in the table B of FIG.

That is, the mail ID is shown in the upper left outside the rectangular frame, and the form is shown next to the arrow to the related mail.

<< Embodiment Example (Part 2) >> Second Embodiment of the Present Invention
An example of the embodiment will be described below.

On the computer, one user usually has one account. A dedicated directory for managing one sent / received mail is provided here. Every time you send one email or receive one email,
Create one file in this dedicated directory.

The content of this file is the mail itself, and the name of the file is an example of this embodiment. The naming convention of each file is described below.

Here, A. B. A file with a name represented by C is created for each mail.
A, B, and C are characters or character strings that can be used as file names. Also,. Is a period (dot). The "one mail" used here includes not only received mail but also mail sent by oneself.

A is a natural number that simply increases in the order in which the files are created.

B is one character representing transmission or reception, and the form at the time of transmission or the form at the time of reception.

When B = s: This file represents a mere send mail. A mere sent mail is a mail that has no relation to the sent and received mail.

When B = f: This file represents a forward transmission mail. Forward transmission is an email that sends an email that has been sent to a third party.

When B = p, this file is sent by reply (reply-send).
Indicates an email. The reply transmission is to return, for example, an answer to a question about the sent mail to the sender of the mail.

When B = v: This file represents a mere receive mail. Merely receiving is an email that has nothing to do with sent / received emails.

When B = r: This file represents that the reply mail to the mail sent by itself is received-replied. For example, when the reply is returned as the reply mail (2) from the other party to the sent mail (1) asking a question about something, the mail of (2) is B = r.

C is A when the original mail exists in the form at the time of sending / the form at the time of receiving. B is f,
It exists only when p and r.

Upon reception, the file is temporarily stored as a temporary file, the header is analyzed, and the file name is determined according to the above naming rule.

The flow of processing using the above naming convention is shown in FIGS.

1) Procedure for sending (FIG. 15) First, mail is sent. Next, check the current serial number. Here, it is n. Next, the file format A. B.
Let A of C be n + 1. Then, the following procedure is taken according to the transmission form.

When there is no relation with the previously transmitted / received mail In this case, the file format B is set to s. Do nothing for file format C (leave null).

In the case of forwarding the mail transmitted / received before, in this case, the file format B is set to f. In addition, the file format C is used as the mail A '.
B '. The ID number of C'is A '.

In the case of replying to a previously transmitted / received mail (reply) In this case, the file format B is r. In addition, the file format C is the mail A '. B '.
The ID number of C'is A '.

Finally, A. B. Save the C file and exit.

2) Procedure for reception (FIG. 16) First, mail is received. Next, it is saved as a temporary file temp. Next, check the current serial number. Here, it is n. Next, the file format A. B.
Let A of C be n + 1. Then, the following procedure is taken according to the reception mode.

When there is no relation with the previously transmitted / received mail In this case, the file format B is v. Do not enter anything for file format C (leave null).

Reply to previously sent / received mail (reply)
In this case, the file format B is r. Also, the file format C
To the email A '. B '. The ID number of C'is A '.

Finally, the temp file is renamed to A. B. Rename as C and finish.

A specific application example of this embodiment is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, FIG. 17 will be described step by step.

(1) An inquiry mail is sent from account B (user B) to account A (user A).

For account B, 1. leave s-file. Account A has 1. Create a v-file.

(2) User A sends an inquiry mail to account C (user C) regarding the content of the received mail.

For account A, 2. f. Leave one file.

(3) User C receives the mail.

For account C, 1. Leave the v-file.

(4) The user C returns a reply mail to the user A in response to the inquiry content.

For account C, 2. p. Leave one file.

(5) Account A receives the mail.

First, the temporary file tempora
Received as ry1.

(6) The account A checks the relation with his / her previous mail.

By looking at the ID of the received mail,
2. f. Since the relationship with 1 is known, 3. r. There are 2 files.

(7) User A reads the received mail,
A reply is sent to the user B who is the first inquiry source.

Account A has 4. p. Leave one file.

(8) Account B receives the mail.

For account B, 2. r. Create one file.

(9) User B sends an additional inquiry mail to User A.

For account B, 3. p. Leave 2 files.

(10) Account A receives the mail.

Received as temporary2.

(11) Account A checks the relation with the previous mail.

By checking the ID of the received mail,
3. p. Since the relationship with 1 is known, 5. r. There are 3 files.

(12) User A returns a reply to user b.

For account A, p. Leave 5 files.

(13) User B receives the mail.

Account B has 4. r. Create 3 files.

According to the sent / received mail naming rules described above, since the relationship between a newly received mail and a previously sent mail or a received mail can be known, the relationship between mails can be displayed, and information can be displayed. You can see the flow of.

FIG. 18 shows an example of the viewer displaying the relation. Here, a case of displaying the account A in the case of FIG. 17 is shown. The thick frame indicates that the email is sent from this account A. Here, since they are arranged in the vertical direction in time order, it can be inferred that, for example, the mail 3 is related to the mail 4 derived from the same one mail 1. Therefore, by receiving Email 3,
It is evoked that mail 4, which is a reply to mail 1, must be created.

[0142]

As described above, according to the first invention or the third invention of the present invention, by the transmission management table and the reception management table, or by the management by the serial number, the transmission / reception mode, and the related mail. Since the relationship between sent mails and received mails is managed, it is possible to realize the process of automatically extracting the relationship between sent and received mails and automatically extract the past mails related to the received mails. The advantage of being able to do is obtained.

The second invention or the fourth invention of the present invention
According to the invention of the above, in particular, the relation between reply mails is automatically extracted and the relation is displayed.
The convenience can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation flow chart when sending an email according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flow chart when receiving a mail according to the first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a transmitted mail management table in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a received mail management table according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an outgoing mail management table created in case 1) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a received mail management table created in case 2) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a transmitted mail management table created in case 3) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a received mail management table created in case 3) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a transmitted mail management table created in case 4) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a received mail management table created in case 4) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a transmitted mail management table created in case 5) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a received mail management table created in case 5) of the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a legend of a mail-related viewer according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a representation of case 5) based on a legend of a mail-related viewer.

FIG. 15 is an operation flow chart showing a procedure at the time of transmission when the second embodiment of the present invention is used.

FIG. 16 is an operation flowchart showing a procedure at the time of reception when the second embodiment example of the present invention is used.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an application example when the second embodiment example is used.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a viewer when the second embodiment is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

 s1 to s13 ... Transmission procedure r1 to r10 ... Reception procedure

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method of managing an electronic mail system having a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail, wherein in transmitting the electronic mail, it is judged whether the outgoing mail is simple transmission, forwarding or reply, and the outgoing mail is forwarded or answered. If it is, enter the identifier of the original mail in the column indicating the related mail in the transmission management table of the mail, and judge whether the received mail is simple reception or reply when receiving the electronic mail. However, in the case of a reply, enter the identifier of the original mail in the column indicating the original mail of the reception management table of the mail, search the transmission management table, and reply to the mail sent by you. If it is, an e-mail characterized in that the identifier of the original mail is entered in the column indicating the related mail in the reception management table of the mail. Management method. 2. Each mail is represented by a block based on the transmission management table and the reception management table of the e-mail obtained by sending and receiving the e-mail, and when each mail has a relation, each mail is displayed. The electronic mail management method according to claim 1, wherein the blocks are connected by arrows and displayed on the display means. 3. A method of managing an electronic mail system having a function of sending and receiving electronic mail, wherein management is performed for each account, a serial number is given to each mail, and in the case of outgoing mail, An electronic device characterized by adding a code for identifying the form and the serial number of the original mail, and in the case of received mail, adding a code for identifying the form at the time of reception and the serial number of the original mail Email management method. 4. Each mail is divided into blocks based on a serial number given for sending and receiving an electronic mail, a code for identifying a form at the time of sending, a code for identifying a form at the time of receiving, and a serial number of the original mail. 4. The electronic mail management method according to claim 3, wherein when the mails are expressed, and the mails are related to each other, the blocks for displaying the mails are connected by arrows and displayed on the display means.