JPH1145258A - Electronic document management method, device therefor and recording medium recorded with electronic document management program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide electronic document management method and device capable of retrieving the electronic mail in high performance by considering the exchange of electronic mails and managing the set of the electronic mails, and to provide a recording medium in which an electronic document management program is recorded. SOLUTION: Link information is generated between a transmission electronic mail A and a reception electronic mail A' inside an electronic mail management box, inverse link information is generated between the reception electronic mail and the transmission electronic mail inside the electronic mail management box and the transmission electronic mail A and the reception electronic mail A' inside the electronic mail management box are managed in relation based on the link information and the inverse link information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic document management method and apparatus for managing a set of electronic documents, and a recording medium storing an electronic document management program, and more particularly to link information and reverse link information for transmitted and received electronic documents. The present invention relates to an electronic document management method and apparatus that enables high-performance electronic document search by automatically generating a document, and a recording medium that records an electronic document management program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of managing a set of e-mails, for example, a method of storing the contents of individual e-mails and e-mail information to associate and manage relationships between individual e-mails has been widely used. Used.

Here, as e-mail information used for managing the set of e-mails, for example, 1) Send (send) 2) Reply (reply) 3) Forward (forward) and the like are used. .

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional method of managing a set of e-mails, only the e-mail added to the original e-mail is associated with the e-mail information. The reverse link of the original email to the email was not considered at all.

[0005] Also, unlike ordinary file information that represents a single meaning, the meaning and background of electronic mail are often known through electronic mail before and after exchange.

[0006] However, in the conventional e-mail search, the above-mentioned association information is not taken into account. Therefore, even if an e-mail that matches the search key can be searched, there is no relevant e-mail exchanged. There was a problem that e-mail groups could not be referenced.

Therefore, the present invention records an electronic document management method and apparatus and an electronic document management program which enable a high-performance electronic document search by managing a set of electronic documents in consideration of the exchange of electronic documents. It is intended to provide a recording medium.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic document management method for managing a transmitted or received electronic document. Generate link information between the received electronic document and the generated electronic document, generate reverse link information between the received electronic document and the transmitted electronic document, and, based on the link information and the reverse link information, associate the electronic document with the electronic document. It is characterized by management.

[0009] Here, the link information refers to a relationship between a response (received) electronic document to the transmitted electronic document, and particularly information indicating a time-series association.

[0010] Reverse link information refers to the relationship between the original (sent) electronic document and the response (received) electronic document, contrary to the link information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document are searched based on the link information and the reverse link information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the second aspect, a hypertext for displaying a group of related electronic documents is automatically generated based on an electronic document name obtained from the search result. And

Here, the hypertext refers to a display on an electronic document for accessing a related electronic document group.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the second aspect, a hypertext for displaying a group of electronic documents is automatically generated for the electronic document attribute obtained from the search result.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, a search result is displayed for each electronic document attribute obtained from the search result.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, in displaying the search results for each of the electronic document attributes, when there is an electronic document having the same attribute, the upper electronic document is given priority, and the lower electronic document is given priority. The electronic document is omitted.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic document management apparatus for managing a transmitted or received electronic document, when managing the electronic document, link information is generated between the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document. Link information generating means, reverse link information generating means for generating reverse link information between a received electronic document and a transmitted electronic document, and associating and managing the electronic document based on the link information and the reverse link information And management means.

[0018] The invention of claim 8 according to claim 7, further comprising a search means for searching the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document based on the link information and the reverse link information. .

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the eighth aspect, a hypertext for displaying a group of related electronic documents is automatically generated based on an electronic document name obtained from a search result by the search means. It is characterized by further comprising an automatic hypertext generating means.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the eighth aspect,
The apparatus further comprises automatic hypertext generation means for automatically generating a hypertext for displaying a group of electronic documents with respect to the electronic document attribute obtained from the result of the search by the search means.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium storing an electronic document management program for managing a transmitted or received electronic document, wherein the electronic document management program comprises:
When managing the electronic document, link information generating means for generating link information between the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document, and generating reverse link information between the received electronic document and the transmitted electronic document It is characterized by comprising reverse link information generating means, and managing means for managing the electronic document in association with each other based on the link information and the reverse link information.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an electronic document management method and apparatus according to the present invention and a recording medium storing an electronic document management program will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic mail management search system configured by applying an electronic document management method and apparatus according to the present invention and a recording medium on which an electronic document management program is recorded.

In FIG. 1, the e-mail management and retrieval system includes an e-mail management unit 100 for mainly managing a set of e-mails using link information and reverse link information.
And an e-mail search unit 200 that enables high-performance e-mail search using the e-mail management by the e-mail management unit 100.

The e-mail management unit 100 includes a transmission unit 10
1. Receiving unit 102, text information storage unit 103, link / reverse link information registration unit 104, link information storage unit 10.
5. Reverse link information storage unit 106, link / reverse link information extraction unit 107, link / reverse link information reference unit 10
8 is provided.

Here, the transmitting unit 101 has a function of transmitting document information as e-mail as in a general e-mail system, and the receiving unit 102 has a function of receiving document information as e-mail. Have

The document information storage unit 103 stores the document information of the e-mail transmitted by the transmission unit 101 and the document information of the e-mail received by the reception unit 102.

The link / reverse link information registration unit 104
Link information and reverse link information between the transmitted e-mail and the received e-mail are automatically generated based on the e-mail transmission operation of the transmission unit 101 and the e-mail reception operation of the reception unit 102, and the automatically generated link information Is registered in the link information storage unit 105, and the reverse link information is
A registration process is performed on the reverse link information storage unit 106.

The link information storage unit 105 stores link information automatically generated and registered by the link / reverse link information registration unit 104. Here, the link information indicates, for example, the relationship between the response electronic mail A ′ and the transmitted electronic mail A, that is, the relationship between the document information of the electronic mails, such as A → A ′.

The reverse link information storage unit 106 stores the link /
The reverse link information registration unit 104 stores the reverse link information automatically generated and registered. Here, the reverse link information is, for example, the relationship between the original email A and the response email A ', that is, the relationship between the document information of the email opposite to the link information described above, such as A' → A. Is represented.

The link / reverse link information extraction unit 107
A process of extracting link information for certain document information from the link information storage unit 105 and extracting reverse link information from the reverse link information storage unit 106 is performed.

The link / reverse link information reference unit 108
For certain document information, link / reverse link information is generated from the link / reverse link information extraction unit 107, and based on the generated link information and reverse link information, the corresponding document is stored in the text information storage unit 103. This is a process for extracting information.

The e-mail search unit 200 includes a text information storage unit 103 and a link / reverse link information reference unit 10.
8. Link / reverse link information display section 109, search key input section 110, search engine section 111, search result storage section 1
12, an output control unit 113, and a search result display unit 114.

Here, the text information storage unit 103 and the link / reverse link information reference unit 108 are as described above.

The link / reverse link information display section 109
The link / reverse link information extracted by the link / reverse link information reference unit 108 and the corresponding document information are displayed.

The search key input section 110 is for inputting a search key related to an electronic mail search.

The search engine unit 111 stores the search key input by the search key input unit 110 and the text information storage unit 10.
3 is compared with the document information of the electronic mail, and the matching degree of the condition is evaluated for the search key and the search target.

The search result storage unit 112 stores the evaluation results obtained by the search engine unit 111.

The output control unit 113 includes the search result storage unit 11
The search result display unit 114 controls the output of the inspection result stored in the search result 2 and displays the search result of the e-mail. Here, in displaying the search result, a link /
The link / reverse link information display unit 109 can be used to display related documents using the reverse link information reference unit 108.

Before describing the detailed operation of the e-mail management / search system, a specific e-mail management method using the e-mail management / search system and an e-mail search method using the management method will be described. I do.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific method of managing electronic mail exchanged between the mail user X and the mail user Y who use the electronic mail.

Here, a mail management box is provided on the mail user X side. In this mail management box, an e-mail (hereinafter, referred to as “mail”) transmitted from the mail user X to the mail user Y is provided. This is referred to as a transmitted e-mail) and an e-mail returned from the e-mail user Y to the e-mail user X in response to the transmission of the e-mail from the e-mail user X to the e-mail user Y (hereinafter referred to as a received e-mail). ) Are respectively stored, and link information and reverse link information, which will be described in detail later, are generated between the transmitted e-mail group and the received e-mail group, respectively, and the e-mail including the transmitted e-mail group and the received e-mail group is generated. Is managed using the generated link information and reverse link information.

More specifically, the mail management box is provided with a transmission e-mail group storage unit (Outbox) for storing a transmission e-mail group and a reception e-mail group storage unit (Inbox) for storing a reception e-mail group. The e-mail sent from the e-mail user X to the e-mail user Y is stored in the outgoing e-mail group storage unit (Outbox), and the e-mail returned from the e-mail user Y to the e-mail user X is received. E-mail group storage unit (Inbox)
To memorize.

The transmission electronic mail group storage unit (Out)
For example, link information is generated for an e-mail A ′ stored in the received e-mail group storage unit (Inbox) corresponding to the e-mail A stored in the received e-mail A stored in the received e-mail group storage unit (Inbox). ), An outgoing e-mail group storage unit (Outbo) corresponding to the e-mail A ′ stored in
Reverse link information is generated for the email A stored in x).

The link information and reverse link information thus generated are stored and managed as (A → A ′) and (A ′ → A), respectively.

By adopting such a configuration, a set of e-mails composed of a transmission e-mail group and a reception e-mail group stored in the mail management box can be managed by clarifying their mutual relation.

Although the above description is directed to electronic mail, the same processing can be applied to electronic news and the like. In this case, an electronic news article (Arti
cle) corresponds to the e-mail.

Further, according to the above configuration, a set of e-mails stored in the e-mail management box is used by using the link information and the reverse link information to search and display e-mails, thereby making the e-mail text intended to be searched. Even if there is no keyword corresponding to
It is possible to easily find a desired e-mail from the link relationship between t and the mail, and also to easily display the relation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a search process when the search word is "Italian food" in the configuration shown in FIG.

Here, it is assumed that the user's search intention is “I want to know a restaurant of Italian cuisine that I have been to before”.

In this case, the search word is "Italian cuisine"
The search result is assumed to be like “search result A” shown in FIG.

That is, this “search result A” is ranked 1
Is "BB3" and its subject is "Would you like to go eat Italian food?"
Is "AA4", its subject is "Simple way of cooking Italian food", the mail name of the third rank is "CC3", and its subject is "The secret of Italian food".

By the way, according to the method of the present invention,
For example, by using the link information and the reverse link information for the mail name “BB3” of the rank 1, the e-mail of the mail name “BB3” of the rank 1 and the Subject are used.
The same mail list can be extracted and displayed.

Here, as the e-mail having the same subject as the e-mail having the first-ranked mail name “BB3” extracted by using the link information and the reverse link information, the e-mail names are “BB1”, “BB2”, “BB”. BB3 "," BB
4 ",... Are displayed in a predetermined relationship.

By the way, the e-mail corresponding to the search intention, that is, “I want to know the restaurant of Italian food that I have visited before” is the e-mail with the mail name “BB4”. Since the text of the e-mail does not include the keyword "Italian cuisine", it is not possible to find the e-mail with the mail name "BB4" corresponding to this search intention by the conventional keyword search method.

However, according to the method shown in FIG. 3, since the e-mail with the mail name “BB3” and the e-mail with the mail name “BB4” can be referred to as the same e-mail as the subject, the e-mail name matching the search intention The e-mail of "BB4" can be easily found.

Further, according to the method shown in FIG. 3, the background of the text of the mail intended to be searched and the relationship between the mails can be expressed in detail. It is sent, and it is possible to know together what kind of e-mail is related to this intended e-mail.

In FIG. 3, a hyperlink to the “e-mail list with the same subject” is attached to each subject for “search result A”. Therefore, by specifying the subject “Would you like to eat Italian food” in the first rank, this Subject
The "e-mail list with the same Subject" can be displayed. This processing can be realized by automatically generating a “mail list with the same subject” by referring to link information from the subject of the mail “BB3” in “search result A”.

This “List of mails with the same Subject”
, The mail is displayed in chronological order. This process is performed by automatically generating the “e-mail list with the same Subject”.
Can be realized by sorting by time. In addition, the mail corresponding to the search result may be configured to be highlighted.

Further, by designating the name of a raw mail in the “List of mails with the same subject”, a document of the mail may be displayed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing of the electronic mail management unit in the electronic mail management and search system shown in FIG.

In general, a function of storing an e-mail transmitted and received in a conventional e-mail system in an e-mail management box is widely used. The e-mail management unit 100 in the e-mail management search system of this embodiment is configured to generate and register the relationship between transmitted and received e-mails as link information in addition to the above functions.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the processing associated with the transmission of the electronic mail and the processing associated with the reception of the electronic mail are shown independently of each other.

That is, in the processing accompanying the transmission of the electronic mail, first, the electronic mail is transmitted (step 2).
01). The transmission of the e-mail is performed by the transmission unit 101 shown in FIG.

Next, mail link registration for the transmitted e-mail is performed (step 202). This mail link registration is performed by the link / reverse link information registration unit 104 shown in FIG.

In the process accompanying the reception of the electronic mail, first, the electronic mail is received (step 21).
1). This e-mail is received by the receiving unit 1 shown in FIG.
02.

Next, mail link registration is performed for the received electronic mail (step 212). This mail link registration is performed by the link / reverse link information registration unit 104 shown in FIG.

Here, the mail link registration performed by the link / reverse link information registration unit 104 in step 202 is as follows.
For example, assuming that the e-mail A transmitted in step 101 is the e-mail B received in step 102 as a response e-mail of the e-mail A, the relationship of A → B is set as the link information, and the link information storage unit is used. Register at 105.

When the electronic mail A transmitted in step 101 is a response electronic mail to the electronic mail B received in step 211, the relationship of A ← B is stored in the reverse link information storage unit 106 as reverse link information. sign up.

Similarly, the mail link registration performed by the link / reverse link information registration unit 104 in step 212 is as follows.
For example, assuming that the e-mail A transmitted in step 201 is the response e-mail of the e-mail B with respect to the e-mail B received in step 211, the relation of B → A is set as the link information, and the link information storage unit is used. Register at 105.

If the electronic mail B received in step 211 is a response electronic mail to the electronic mail A transmitted in step 201, the relationship B ← A is stored in the reverse link information storage unit 106 as reverse link information. sign up.

Next, a specific example of the mail link registration processing in steps 202 and 212 will be described.

In the mail link registration process of step 202, the following process is performed. 1) The form of the e-mail transmitted in step 201, that is, To, Cc, Reply, Forward, etc., is identified. 2) If the form of the e-mail transmitted in step 201 is a new transmission (To), the e-mail name (A) and its attributes (transmission destination, subject, etc.) are registered in the link information. 3) If the form of the e-mail transmitted in step 201 is other than the new transmission (Reply, Forward, etc.), the e-mail is referred to the reverse link information stored in the reverse link information storage unit 106, and is transmitted to the link information storage unit 105. The link information is registered and / or the reverse link information is registered in the reverse link information storage unit 106.

In the mail link registration processing in step 212, 1) the form of the e-mail received in step 211, that is, To, Cc, Reply, Forward, etc., is identified. 2) If the electronic mail received in step 211 is a response mail (Reply), the link information of the electronic mail refers to the attribute of each mail. 3) If there is a mail related to the response mail in the link information, it is registered in the reverse link information and the link information. 4) If it is not a response mail, the e-mail name and its attribute are registered in the reverse link information.

When referring to the link information and the reverse link information, the determination is made depending on whether the attributes of the electronic mail are the same. For example, the Sub of the e-mail
the same e-mail or the sender of the e-mail (1
The determination is made based on whether the person or the plurality is the same.

In the above description, the link information and the reverse link information are configured to be automatically generated. However, the link information and the reverse link information may be configured to be freely edited manually.

As described above, by using the link information and the reverse link information, a certain e-mail can be
Relevant emails can be extracted,
Also, they can be generated hierarchically.

Therefore, since the relevance of a plurality of e-mails can be managed hierarchically, more effective management is possible when the e-mail is, for example, an electronic voice mail.

When related e-mails are displayed hierarchically, a line for displaying the hierarchy can be set on the time axis in addition to a simple line display. In this case, automatic size setting can be performed based on the display screen size, and the mail attribute and the link information in the mail can be immediately referenced from the mail name.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing of the electronic mail search unit in the electronic mail management and search system shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, first, a search keyword is input (step 301). The input of the search keyword is performed by the search input unit 110 shown in FIG.

Next, a search process is performed using the search keyword input in step 301 (step 30).
2). This search processing is performed by the search engine 11 shown in FIG.
1 is performed.

Then, a search result display for displaying the search result by the search processing of step 301 is performed (step 3).
03) Further, the details of the search result are displayed (step 304). The search result display and the search result detailed display are performed by the search result display unit 114 shown in FIG.

Next, a specific example of the search result display processing in step 303 will be described.

As a specific example of the search result display processing in step 303, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the search result list including the rank with respect to the keyword, the mail name, the mail attribute, and the like, the mail name and the mail attribute are used. A display with a hyperlink to the relevant email can be employed.

Here, the search result list is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 3, but is searched in order from the top of the search results.
It is also possible to configure to omit the lower mail.

In addition to the search result list shown in FIG. 3, the number of search matches for each attribute may be displayed together.

Further, with respect to the mail attribute, the search results may be displayed in a list based on the order including the search results.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another display example of the search result list shown in FIG.

The display example shown in FIG. 6 shows the mail attribute S
In the display example of the search result list shown in FIG. 6, the number of search matches for each attribute is displayed in addition to the ranking for the keyword, the mail name, and the Subject.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing still another display example of the search result list shown in FIG.

[0092] The display example shown in FIG.
In the display example of the search result list shown in FIG. 7, the number of search matches for each attribute is displayed in addition to the ranking for the keyword, the mail name, and the subject, and the search result is further displayed. The search results are configured to be displayed in a list based on the ranking including the most.

Next, a specific example of the search result detailed display processing in step 304 will be described.

In the search result detailed display process in step 304, a detailed display is performed in consideration of the relationship between the mails in the mail management box, paying attention to the attributes of the mails in the search result display process in step 303.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example by the search result detailed display processing shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 shows a detailed search result display of the e-mail with the mail name “BB3”. The mail name of the e-mail referred to by the link information from the e-mail with the mail name “BB3” is Email name "BB
The e-mail name of the e-mail that is displayed at the top of “3” and referenced by the reverse link information from the e-mail of this e-mail name “BB3” is displayed under the e-mail name “BB3”.

According to such a configuration, the following effects can be expected. 1) Even if the keyword (in this case, "Italian food") is not directly included in the mail for the search intention, the mail intended for the search can be easily found indirectly and easily. 2) In the case of a mail having a search result, mails exchanged in the past can be easily referred to in chronological order.
In addition, the mails before and after the mail can be easily referred to. Also, the background and related matters of this mail can be easily understood. 3) When there are many e-mails that match the search, the search results can be classified and displayed by outputting and displaying the search results for each attribute.

[0098]

As described above, according to the present invention, the relationship between electronic documents is managed by generating link information and reverse ink information in addition to the conventional electronic document management function. The following effects can be expected.

1) Even when a search keyword is not included in the electronic document corresponding to the search intention at the time of searching the electronic document, if the search keyword is included in the relevant electronic document, the search intention is indirectly determined. An electronic document to be searched can be easily found, thereby greatly improving the search accuracy of the electronic document.

2) Since it is possible to hierarchically refer to a group of related electronic documents that have been exchanged, the background of the electronic document and the relationship between the electronic documents can be expressed in detail. The search accuracy of electronic documents can be greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic document management method and apparatus according to the present invention and an electronic mail management search system configured by applying a recording medium on which an electronic document management program is recorded.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific method for managing e-mail exchanged between a mail user X and a mail user Y who use the e-mail.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a search process when a search word is “Italian food” in the configuration shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of an email management unit in the email management search system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing of an electronic mail search unit in the electronic mail management and search system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view showing another display example of the search result list shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a view showing still another display example of the search result list shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a display example by the search result detailed display processing shown in FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 e-mail management unit 101 transmission unit 102 reception unit 103 text information storage unit 104 link / reverse link information registration unit 105 link information storage unit 106 reverse link information storage unit 107 link / reverse link information extraction unit 108 link / Reverse link information reference section 109 Link / reverse link information display section 110 Search key input section 111 Search engine section 112 Search result storage section 113 Output control section 114 Search result display section 200 E-mail search section

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An electronic document management method for managing a transmitted or received electronic document, wherein in managing the electronic document, link information is generated between the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document. An electronic document management method, wherein reverse link information is generated between a document and a transmitted electronic document, and the electronic document is managed in association with the electronic document based on the link information and the reverse link information. 2. The electronic document management method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document are searched based on the link information and the reverse link information. 3. The electronic document management according to claim 2, wherein a hypertext for displaying a related electronic document group is automatically generated based on the electronic document name obtained from the result of the search. Method. 4. The electronic document management method according to claim 2, wherein a hypertext for displaying an electronic document group is automatically generated for the electronic document attribute obtained from the search result. 5. The search result is displayed for each electronic document attribute obtained from the search result.
Electronic document management method described. 6. In the display of search results for each electronic document attribute, when there is an electronic document having the same attribute, a higher-level electronic document is given priority and a lower-level electronic document is omitted. The electronic document management method according to claim 5. 7. An electronic document management device for managing a transmitted or received electronic document, wherein, when managing the electronic document, link information generating means for generating link information between the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document. And reverse link information generating means for generating reverse link information between the received electronic document and the transmitted electronic document; and management means for associating and managing the electronic document based on the link information and the reverse link information. An electronic document management device, comprising: 8. The electronic document management apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a search unit configured to search the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document based on the link information and the reverse link information. 9. An automatic hypertext generating means for automatically generating a hypertext for displaying a related electronic document group based on an electronic document name obtained from a result of the search by the search means. The electronic document management device according to claim 8, wherein: 10. An automatic hypertext generating means for automatically generating a hypertext for displaying an electronic document group with respect to an electronic document attribute obtained as a result of the search by the search means. The electronic document management device according to claim 8, wherein 11. A recording medium storing an electronic document management program for managing transmitted or received electronic documents, wherein the electronic document management program, when managing the electronic document, transmits the transmitted electronic document and the received electronic document. Link information generating means for generating link information between a document and a reverse link information generating means for generating reverse link information between a received electronic document and a transmitted electronic document; And a management means for managing the electronic documents in association with each other. A recording medium storing an electronic document management program, characterized by comprising: