JPH10262078A - Reception management device for electronic mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the reception management device of an electronic mail, capable of preferentially storing an electronic mail of high priority in a mail box. SOLUTION: A classification table is provided with one or plural pieces of classification data to which conditions, categories and priority orders are written. A classification device adds the category and the priority to the transmitted electronic mail, based on the classification table and delivers the electronic mail to a reception controller determined by the category. For instance, in the case that a capacity required for storing the received electronic mail is not provided in its own mail box, the reception controller performs the processings of eliminating the electronic mail of low priority in its own mail box and storing the received electronic mail in its own mail box instead or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an e-mail receiving apparatus which classifies e-mails based on a classification table when e-mails are received, and which can receive e-mails with high priority with priority. It relates to a management device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 22 is a functional block diagram of an electronic mail server system. In the figure, 1 is a server
Reference numeral 2 denotes a receiving device, 3 denotes a classification device, 4 denotes a reception management device, 5 denotes a reception control device, 6 denotes a mail box, and 7 denotes an error processing unit.

The electronic mail server system 1 is a computer, and functionally includes a receiving device 2, a classifying device 3, and a plurality of mail reception management devices 4. Receiver 2
Is for receiving an e-mail. The classification device 3
By referring to the sender address of the e-mail, the e-mail is sent to the mail reception management device of the corresponding user. In the illustrated example, the mail reception management device 4 is assigned to the user K.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional mail reception management device. The mail reception management device 4 includes a reception control device 5, a mail box 6, and an error processing unit 7. The reception control device 5 stores the electronic mail in the mail box 6 when the electronic mail can be received, and activates the error processing unit 7 to perform the error processing when the electronic mail is rejected.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a conventional reception control device. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is determined whether or not there is free space in the mail box. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S3, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S4. In step S3, the mail x is accepted (stored) in the mail box.
In step S4, error processing of the mail x is performed.

As shown in FIGS. 22 to 24, in a personal computer communication or an e-mail server system of an Internet provider, an e-mail server system categorizes received e-mails for each user and is provided for each user. They are recorded in a mailbox and stored in the mailbox until the user reads the mail. It is common for a user's mailbox to have a limit on the capacity that can be recorded or the number of mails that can be recorded. In the prior art, FIG.
As shown in, when a mail is received, the free space of the mailbox is checked, and if there is free space, the mail is stored in the mailbox. Send mail back to
Error processing such as sending a message to the sender is performed.

As described above, in the personal computer communication and the e-mail service provided by the Internet provider, the capacity of the mail box available to the user is limited due to the limitation of the disk capacity of the mail server. I cannot accept it. Users generally retrieve e-mail from their mailboxes and read them several times a day to several times a week, but if they do not have access for a while, such as during a trip, they will receive e-mails in their mailboxes for several weeks. It is not unusual for an unread state to remain stored.

[0008]

Therefore, when a large number of mails arrive in a state where e-mails remain unread in the mailboxes, the mailboxes become full, and then the priority level becomes higher. There was a problem that even if a high-priority email or urgent email arrived, it could not be received.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail reception management device capable of classifying e-mails based on a rewritable classification table and storing necessary e-mails preferentially in a mailbox.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. An electronic mail reception management device according to the present invention includes a classification table having one or a plurality of classification data having a condition field, a category field, and a priority order field; a classification device for classifying a received electronic mail; Or multiple mail boxes and each mail
One or a plurality of reception control devices provided in a one-to-one correspondence in the box, and the classification device refers to the classification table and adds a category and a priority to the received e-mail. In addition, the received e-mail is passed to the reception control device determined by the category, and the reception control device controls the reception of the received e-mail in its own mailbox. is there.

[0010] E-mails are classified based on the rewritable classification table to distinguish between high-priority mails and low-priority e-mails, to decide whether or not to accept the e-mails, and to send them to a mailbox. , The number of missed high-priority emails is reduced even if the size of the mailbox is limited.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of an electronic mail reception management device according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a classification device, 9 denotes a reception management unit, 10 denotes a reception control device, 11 denotes a mail box, and 12 denotes an error processing unit. The illustrated e-mail reception management device is for the user K.

An electronic mail reception management device according to the present invention comprises a classification device 8 and one or more reception management units 9.
have. The classification device 8 classifies the electronic mail based on the classification table, and sends the electronic mail to the reception management unit 9 corresponding to the category obtained as a result of the classification on a one-to-one basis. In the illustrated example, the reception management unit 9 on the left corresponds to category A, and the reception management unit 9 on the right corresponds to category C.

The reception management unit 9 includes the reception control device 1
0, a mail box 11, and an error processing unit 12. The reception control device 10 controls whether or not to receive an e-mail. When the e-mail is received, the e-mail is stored in the mail box 11, and when the e-mail is not received. Is the error processing unit 12
To perform error handling. Note that the classification device 8, the reception control device 10, and the error processing unit 12 are actually realized by a computer and a program. The same applies to the capacity control device 13 described later.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the reception management unit of the present invention. In addition, the same code | symbol as FIG. If there is no capacity to store the received e-mail in the mailbox 11, the reception control device 10 lowers the priority of the received e-mail from among the e-mails already stored in the mailbox 11. Processing such as deleting the priority electronic mail and storing the received electronic mail is performed. The processing of the reception control device 10 will be described later.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a second embodiment of the electronic mail reception management device of the present invention. In the figure, 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a capacity control device for the entire mailbox. In addition, the same code | symbol as FIG. The difference between the first embodiment of FIG. 2 and the second embodiment of FIG. 3 is whether or not there is a capacity control device 13. When the capacity of a certain mail box becomes insufficient, the capacity control device 13
The capacity of the box is increased, and instead, the capacity of the mailbox with a low priority is reduced.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a bed part and a main part of an electronic mail. The e-mail is composed of a header part and a main part. In the header portion, a sender address, a recipient address, a date and time, a title, an importance, a keyword, and the like are written. The content of the message is written in the main body.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a classification table. The classification table has one or a plurality of line data, and each line data has a condition field, a category field, and a priority order field. In the illustrated example, when the e-mail satisfies the condition 1, the e-mail is classified into the category A, and the priority of the e-mail is set to 5. Similarly, if the e-mail satisfies condition 2, the e-mail is category B
And the priority order of the electronic mail is 4. The following is as illustrated. Note that categories and mail boxes are associated one-to-one.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of a classification table for a single category. In the illustrated example, when the sender address of the header includes a character string “Aoki or Suzuki”, the priority order of the e-mail is set to 5, and the character string of the message is “Multimedia”. When the e-mail is included, the priority information of the e-mail is set to 3, and when the e-mail does not satisfy any of the conditions (default), the priority of the e-mail is set to 2. In the illustrated example, all the category fields are blank, but the same value (for example, common mail) may be written in all the category fields.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of a classification table having a plurality of categories. In the illustrated example, when the sender address of the header includes a character string "Fujitsu" and a character string "Sales Department", the category of the e-mail is Sales Department Mail and the priority is 5 It is said. When the sender address of the header includes a character string “Fujitsu” and a character string “Taro Yamada”, the category of the e-mail is in-house mail and the priority order is 4. When the sender address of the header includes a character string “Fujitsu”, the category of the e-mail is an in-house mail, and the priority is set to 3. In the default case, the category of the electronic mail is an external mail, and the priority order is 2. In addition,
The value of the category field may be the same as the value of the priority order field. That is, electronic mails may be classified according to priority.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a correspondence table between categories and mail boxes. In the example shown in the figure, the email classified as the sales department mail is stored in the first mailbox, the email classified as the internal mail is stored in the second mailbox, and classified as the external mail. The e-mail is stored in the third mailbox.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the classification device 8. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is checked whether or not the mail x meets the condition i of the classification table. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S5, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, it is checked whether or not all the conditions of the classification table have been checked.
If yes, proceed to step S4; if no, i +
1 is set to i, and it returns to step S2.

In step S4, a default category and priority are added to the mail x. Next, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S5, a category and a priority corresponding to the condition i are added to the mail x. Next, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, the mail box corresponding to the added category is selected, and the mail x and the added priority are passed to the reception control device of the selected mail box.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a classification table frame screen. A plurality of computer terminals are connected to the server system. Each computer terminal has a function of creating its own classification table. The classification table created by each computer terminal is sent to the server system and passed to the corresponding e-mail reception management device.

As shown in FIG. 11, the classification table frame screen has an area for inputting a condition and an area for inputting a classification. The area for inputting the condition has a plurality of lines, the item name is displayed on the left side of each line, and the right side is blank. The area for inputting the classification has two lines, "Category" is displayed on the left side of the first line, the left side of the first line is blank, and the region of the second line is blank. "Priority" is displayed on the left and 2
The left side of the second line is blank. The user inputs a desired value in a desired blank part. FIG. 12 is an input example for creating the classification table of FIG. FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are input examples for creating the classification table of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is checked whether or not there is free space in the mail box for storing the mail x. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S7, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the mail
It is checked whether there is any mail having a lower priority than the priority of the mail x in the box. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S4, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S8.

In step S4, the mail y having a low priority
And accept it from your mailbox. In step S5, error processing of the mail y is performed. In step S6, the mail x is accepted (stored) in the mail box. In step S7, the mail x is received in the mail box. In step S8, error processing of the mail x is performed.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is checked whether or not there is free space in the mail box for storing the mail x. If the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to step S3. If the determination is No, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S3, the mail
It is checked whether the free space of the box is equal to or less than A. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to Step S4, and in the case of No, Step S7
Proceed to.

In step S4, the priority of mail x is B
Check to see if this is the case. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S5, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S8. In step S5, the mail x is received in the mail box. In step S6, error processing of the mail x is performed. Step S7
Then, the mail x is received in the mail box. In step S8, error processing of the mail x is performed.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is checked whether or not there is free space in the mail box for storing the mail x. If the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to step S3. If the determination is No, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S3, the mail
It is checked whether the free space of the box is equal to or less than A. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to Step S4, and in the case of No, Step S7
Proceed to.

In step S4, the size of the mail x is C
Check if: In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S5, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S8. In step S5, the mail x is received in the mail box. In step S6, error processing of the mail x is performed. Step S7
Then, the mail x is received in the mail box. In step S8, error processing of the mail x is performed.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is checked whether or not there is free space in the mail box for storing the mail x. If the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to step S3. If the determination is No, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S3, it is determined whether or not the priority of the mail is Y or higher. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S4, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S4, the capacity of the mail box is increased. In step S5, the mail x is received in the mail box. In step S6, mail x is received in the mail box. In step S7, the mail x
Perform error processing.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention. In step S1, the mail x is received. In step S2, it is checked whether or not there is free space in the mail box for storing the mail x. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S6, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the mail x
Finds another mailbox that stores an e-mail with a lower priority than the priority of, and checks whether there is room in the other mailbox (a free area equal to or greater than a certain threshold).
In the case of es, the process proceeds to step S4, and in the case of No, the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S4, the capacity of the other mailbox is reduced and the capacity of the mailbox is increased. The processing in step S3 and step S4 is as follows.
This is performed by the capacity control device (see FIG. 4). In step S5, the mail x is received in the mail box.
In step S6, mail x is received in the mail box. In step S7, error processing of the mail x is performed.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining the function of the reception control device of the present invention for leaving only the header information. If the mail x does not satisfy the acceptance condition, only the header information of the mail x is recorded, and then error processing of the mail x is performed.

FIG. 21 is a view for explaining the function of rejecting mails of the category "always rejected" according to the present invention. The category of “always rejected” and the conditions for classification into the category are entered in the classification table, and error processing is performed immediately on emails classified into the category of “always rejected” without storing them in the mailbox. That is, the classifying device 8 (see FIGS. 2 and 4) performs an error process without sending the mail x to the reception control device.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, received mails are classified, and whether to receive the received mails is determined by the priority of the classified mails and the size of the mails. After making your decision,
It is now possible to regulate the recording in the box, thereby preventing the mailbox from overflowing and dropping high-priority mail.

The effect of the user using a plurality of mailboxes is that, unlike the case where there is only one mailbox, the user can receive mail while distinguishing the mailboxes by type and priority. Even if a large number of mails are received, it is possible to prevent mails belonging to a specific category or high priority mails from being missed. For example, a mail box is divided into two, a normal mail box and an emergency mail box. If the normal mailbox overflows, the normal mailbox cannot be accepted. However, even in this state, the high-priority mail enters the emergency mail box, so that it is possible to avoid a problem that a large amount of normal mail arrives and the emergency mail cannot be received.

The received mail boxes are divided into categories such as internal mail, external mail, overseas mail, private mail, and the like.
By using the box, for example, mail for external mail
Even if the box overflows, internal mail can be accepted because there is a separate mailbox. Further, in the reception control device provided for each mail box, it is possible to perform the reception control based on the capacity limit, priority and mail size for each mail box.

Further, by making the capacity of the mail box variable, it is possible to increase the capacity of the mail box when a high-priority mail arrives so that important mail is not missed. .

Further, when a plurality of mailboxes are operated, the capacity between the mailboxes can be exchanged, so that when the free space of the high-priority mailbox is exhausted, the priority can be reduced. This allows you to reclaim the space of a low-grade mailbox and avoid losing important mail.

Further, when the mail cannot be received, the error processing of the mail is performed by recording only the header information, so that even if the mail cannot be received due to insufficient capacity of the mail box, any mail can be received. It can be known from the header information whether or not there was any.

Furthermore, by misclassifying mails from a specific address or mails containing specific contents into categories that are always rejected, it is possible to reject mischievous mails and mails that one does not want to receive.

Further, when determining the priority of the mail box, the priority is determined by a classification table in which the receiver determines the priority from the header information of the mail or the contents of the mail without using the importance specified by the sender. Degree criteria and conditions can be easily customized by the recipient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of an electronic mail reception management device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a reception management unit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the electronic mail reception management device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a header portion and a main body portion of an electronic mail.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a classification table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of a classification table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of a classification table.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a correspondence table between categories and mail boxes.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the classification device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a classification table frame screen.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of input to a classification table framework screen.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of input to a classification table framework screen.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of input to a classification table frame screen.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the processing flow of the reception control device of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a function of the reception control device of the present invention that leaves only header information.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a function of rejecting a mail in the “always rejected” category according to the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an e-mail server system.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional mail reception management device.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a conventional reception control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Server system 2 Receiving device 3 Classification device 4 Reception management device 5 Reception control device 6 Mail box 7 Error processing unit 8 Classification device 9 Reception management unit 10 Reception control device 11 Mail box 12 Error processing unit 13 Capacity control device

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A classification table having one or more classification data having a condition field, a category field, and a priority order field, a classification device for classifying received e-mails, one or more mails Box, and one or more reception control devices provided in a one-to-one correspondence with each mailbox, and the classification device refers to the classification table to categorize the received electronic mail into categories. And the priority, and passes the received e-mail to the reception control device determined by the category, and the reception control device passes the received e-mail to its own mail /
An e-mail reception management device for performing control for receiving in a box. 2. The reception control device according to claim 1, wherein when the capacity of its own mailbox is not enough to receive the received e-mail, the reception control apparatus transfers the e-mail having a lower priority than the priority of the received e-mail to its own. 2. The e-mail reception management device according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail is deleted from the mail box, and the received e-mail is recorded in its own mail box instead. 3. When the free space of its own mailbox is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the reception control device transmits the received electronic mail to its own condition on the condition that the priority of the received electronic mail is equal to or higher than the predetermined value. 2. The electronic mail reception management device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail is recorded in a mail box. 4. When the free space of its own mailbox is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the reception control device transmits the received e-mail to its own mail on condition that the size of the received e-mail is equal to or less than the predetermined value. The electronic mail reception management device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail is recorded in a box. 5. The reception control device, if there is no free space in its own mailbox, increases the capacity of its own mailbox on condition that the priority of the received e-mail is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the received electronic mail is recorded in its own mailbox. 6. A classification table having a plurality of classification data in which conditions, categories, and priorities are written, a classification device for classifying received e-mails, a plurality of mailboxes, A classification control device includes a plurality of reception control devices provided in one-to-one correspondence and a capacity control device, and the classification device refers to the classification table and adds a category and a priority to the received e-mail. And sends the received e-mail to the reception control device determined by the category, and the reception control device sends the received e-mail to its own mail /
An e-mail reception management device for performing control for receiving in a box, wherein the capacity control device controls the capacity of the mailbox among a plurality of mailboxes. 7. The electronic mail reception management device according to claim 1, wherein the reception control device records only header information of the electronic mail that cannot be received. 8. Classification data having a category of "always rejected" and a condition for "always rejected" is written in the classification table, and an e-mail classified into the category of "always rejected" is not recorded in the mailbox. The e-mail reception management device according to claim 1 or 6, wherein: