JPS6348940A - Mail eliminating system in electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the mail subject to key designation by splitting a mail management information area into a required area so as to be access to the area freely while using a transmission date/time in common to all users, a transmission elapsed date, a title or a user name as keys. CONSTITUTION:In receiving a mail designation key from a mail eliminating means 6, a mail selection means 5 decides whether the key is a user designation key or not and in case of the user key, a mail user management information area 12 of the split area of the main management information file 1 is retreived by a designation key to read the corresponding address information. The mail address information is read from user mail box management information areas 13b, 13c or the like and text read key information is read from a mail management information area 13a by using the mail address information and the result is fed to the means 8. Then the means 8 eliminates a corresponding mail from a mail file 7 and a file operating state management means 4 revises the content of the file 1. The elimination using the transmission date, transmission elapsed data and the title or the like as keys is performed similarly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a mail deletion method in an electronic mail system.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of email stores the sent email text and accompanying email management information in a fixed-size mailbox assigned to each recipient in a file, and then stores the email body and accompanying email management information in a fixed-size mailbox assigned to each recipient. was to be deleted from the recipient's own mailbox.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the traditional email deletion method described above, each email, once sent, remains in the file until all recipients delete it, meaning that unnecessary emails, such as expired notifications, remain in the file. There is a high possibility that it will remain. Additionally, if there is information about a user who no longer uses the email system in the file, that user management information and information about the email they were receiving may be completely unnecessary. There is no way to delete it regardless.

There is a problem that unnecessary information generated due to the above reasons does not have a chance to be deleted, and takes up space of the entire file.

The present invention solves these conventional problems, and its purpose is to facilitate the management of file usage in an e-mail system and to improve file usage efficiency.

[Failure to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention saves mail management information, which consists of the user name of the mail which was sent and whose text is stored in the mail file, the sending date and time 2, the subject, the mail text retrieval key information, etc., into a mail management information file. In a mail deletion method in an e-mail system that stores and manages the mail management information file, the mail management information file is stored in a file area management information area and a mail user management information area.

A file initialization means that divides into a plurality of areas to be used as a user mailbox management information area or a mail management information area, and each area divided by the file initialization means is allocated and used for each type of information to be stored. a file division usage means for managing the usage status of the mail management information file that is divided and used by the file division usage unit; : a mail selection means that selects and reads out the corresponding mail management information from the mail management information file based on the mail management information file; email deletion means for instructing to delete the email text in the email file and update the corresponding email management information, and to share email management information regarding the sent email to all users related to the email. A user mailbox management information area that is sequentially set in the dividedly managed area stores e-mail address information that is a key for retrieving the mail management information while storing it in the mail management information area that is sequentially set in the dividedly managed area. is stored for each user in the mail user management information area, and the address information of the area where the user mailbox management information exists is stored for each user in the mail user management information area, and the user name, The configuration is such that emails can be deleted using the sending date and time 2 subject and the number of days that have passed since sending.

[Effect]

When the system is started up, the file initialization means initializes the mail management information file.Afterwards, when storage of a sent mail is requested, the mail text is stored in the mail file, and the mail management information is stored in the mail management information file. The email address information that is stored in common for all users in an area appropriately allocated to the information area and is the key to extracting the email management information is prepared for each user and is set using divided areas as appropriate. The information is included in the mailbox management information area, and information indicating in which area and at which position the mailbox management information of the user is located is stored in the mail user management information area. When the e-mail stored in this manner becomes unnecessary, the e-mail is specified and a deletion instruction is requested, and the e-mail selection means reads the corresponding e-mail body extraction key from the e-mail management information file and sends it to the e-mail deletion means. The mail deletion means deletes the corresponding mail text from the mail file, and instructs the file usage status management means to update the mail management information file to correspond to this deletion.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a mail management information file, 2 is a file initialization means, 3 is a file division usage means, 4 is a file usage status management means, and 5 is a mail selection means. , 6 is a mail deletion means, 7 is a mail file, 8 is a mail information-list output means, and 9
is a printer file.

In FIG. 1, the mail management information file 1 stores mail management information consisting of the user name, sending date and time, 2 the title, 2 the main text read key information, etc. of the mail that was sent and whose text was stored in the mail file 7. , after the system is in operation, as shown in the figure, there will be at least one file area management information area 11, at least one mail user management information area 12, and a mail management information area or a user mailbox management information area or an additional area. A plurality of areas 13a to 1 used as a file area management information area or an additional mail user management information area.
It is divided and managed into 3n. Here, the file area management information area 11 stores information for managing the entire area of the mail management information file 1, such as information such as the purpose of use and information on free space for each divided area. Further, the mail user management information area 12 includes the user (sender) of the sent mail.

(recipients), such as user name.

The user mailbox management information of that user is area 1
Address information indicating which area and at which position of 3a to 13n is stored is stored. Further, the user mailbox management information stored in any of the areas 13a to 13n stores e-mail address information that is a key for retrieving the e-mail management information for each e-mail user. Further, as described above, the mail management information includes information that is a key for extracting the mail body stored in the mail file 7, reception status information of each recipient related to the mail, and the like.

The file initialization means 2 initializes the mail management information file 1 in advance according to the scale of use such as the number of users and the number of mail destinations when starting up 7 Stem. One file area management information area 11 and one mail user management information area 12 are created, and the other areas are divided into unused areas 13a-13n immediately after initialization.

The file/file division usage means 3 divides each area of the mail management information file 1 divided and managed as described above by the file initialization means 2 into file area management information, mail user management information, etc. for each type of information to be stored. , mail management information, and user mailbox management information.

The file usage status management means 4 manages the usage status of each area of the mail management information file 1 which is managed separately for each type of stored information by the above-mentioned file division usage means 3. A usage status determining means 41 that determines the usage status of each divided management unit based on the file area management information of the file area management information, and an address to be written to is determined based on the result obtained by this usage status determining unit 41 according to the type of information. address determining means 42,
The address reservation means 43 operates to prevent other information from being written to the reserved address determined by the address determination means 42.

When the mail selection means 5 receives a request to delete a mail from the mail removal means 6, the mail selection means 5 reads out the corresponding mail text reading key information from the mail management information file 1 based on the determination 111. When an instruction to output mail information is given from the mail information viewing output means 8, mail management information matching the specified conditions is read out from the mail management information file 1 and the mail information is viewed. The specified keys and conditions in this case include the sender's name, recipient's name, and sending date and time.

The subject of the number of days passed since sending 9 or all the mails held in the mail file 7 can be selected.

Further, the mail deletion means 6 deletes the corresponding mail text in the mail file 7 using the mail text reading key information supplied from the mail selection means 5, and updates the mail management information and file area management information accompanying this deletion. The mail information-list output means 8 outputs the mail management information supplied from the mail selection means 5 to the printer file 9.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing of the file division usage means 3, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing of the file usage status management means 4. An example of when sending 1L2 to the following mail MLI will be explained.

Email ML1 Sender A Recipient X, Y, Z Contents of email body MA Email management information CA Email ML2 Sender B Recipients X, Y Contents of email body MB Email management information CB In Figure 1, when starting up the system, first File initialization means 2 is activated. In this case, one file area management information area 11 and one mail user management information area 12 are created in the mail management information file 1, and the other areas are an unused file area 13a.
~13n is divided into fixed management units. Further, the file initialization means 2 sets in the file area management information area 11 the fact that area 12 is a mail user management information area, areas 13a to 13n are unused file areas, and the amount of free space. . After that, when the storage of the mail management information CA of the mail MLI is requested by sending the mail MLI, the file division usage means 3 starts the process shown in FIG. 2, and first reserves the address to write the mail management information CA. In order to do so, the file usage status management means 4 is activated (Sl).

When the file usage status management means 4 is activated, as shown in FIG. (S2
0), then determine the address A13al on the mail management information file 1 of the area 13a obtained (S21
). Then, in order to prevent the area specified by this address A13al from being used by others, it is reserved (522), and this reserved address A]3al is notified to the file division usage means 3 (823).

When the file division usage means 3 receives the reserved address A13al in the process 82, the file division usage means 3 stores the users A, X, Y, Z of the mail ML1 in the mail user management information area 12.
It is checked whether there is information regarding the storage area of user mailbox management information for (S3). Now, assuming that such information does not exist, the file division convenience means 3 activates the file usage status management means 4 in order to secure the mailbox management information area for the user of the mail ML1, for example, A ( s8).

When the file usage management means 4 is activated, it searches for a certain area in the area 13b, for example, the area 13b, in which the mailbox management information of the user A is to be stored, and reserves the address A13bl, through the process shown in FIG. Then, the file division usage means 3 is notified of this.

The file division usage means 3 is the reserved address A13b above.
1 (S9), the address A of the area 13b where the user master and his user mailbox management information can be stored in the mail user management information area 12.
Write the email user management information consisting of 13bl and others (
81O), the contents of the file area management information area 11 are updated in accordance with this writing (811).

The above processing is executed for all users of MailMLI (812), and as a result, the address information of the mailbox management information storage area of all users of MailMLI is included in the mail user management information 12. With this address information, for example, area 13b is assigned to user A,
It can be seen that this area is allocated as the user mailbox management information area for X, Y, and Z. Note that if the user has already been set in the mail user management information area 12 but there is no additional space (S4), processes 88 to 812 are executed and areas 13C to 13n are
An empty area will be newly reserved as a mail user management information area.

Now, when the above processing for all users of the mail MLI is completed, the file division usage means 3 uses the reserved address A13al received in processing S2 as part of the mail address information for all users A, X of the area 13b, User mailbox management information is stored in areas corresponding to Y and Z (S5). Here, the e-mail address information is a key for extracting the e-mail management information CA stored in the address A13al of the area 13a through a process to be described later.

If the above-mentioned process is successfully completed (S6), the file division usage means 3 has received the mail management information OA of the mail ML1 in the process S2! ! Write to address A13al of area 13a reserved for ll-. Note that this mail management information CA includes a key for extracting the content MA of the mail body from a file (not shown), and the mail body can be referenced using this key.

Next, when the storage of the mail management information CB of the mail 81L2 is requested by sending the mail ML2, the file division usage means 3 performs the same process as above, and stores the mail management information CB as the mail management information area. If there is free space in the dividedly managed area 13a, it is stored in such a free space area notified by the file usage status management means 4. Also, if there is no free space, the file usage management means 4 will notify you of a reservation for an address in another area, and the e-mail management information C will be notified there.
Store B. In addition, users B, X, and Y of email ML2
For X and Y, user mailbox management information areas have already been secured in area 13b, so as long as there is free space,
Y's user mailbox management information is stored, and for user B, if there is a space in area 13b, the user mailbox management area for B is secured in that empty space, or in a new area if not. Later, H
User mailbox management information is stored.

Figure 4 shows mail management information CA as described above.

An example of the state when the CB is stored is shown in area 13a.
Mail management information CA and CB are stored in a part of the area 13b, user mailbox management information of users A, X, Y, and Z is stored in a part of the area 13c, and user mail of user B is stored in a part of area 13c. Box management information is stored, and mail user management information including user mailbox management information storage address information for each user A, X, Y, Z, and B is stored in the mail user management information area 12. .

The mail text stored in the mail file 7 as described in detail above will eventually become unnecessary due to expiration of the storage period, transfer of the user, etc. In such a case, a deletion request is made to the mail deletion means 6 in FIG. 1, specifying the mail to be deleted by 01''. At this time, the user name, sending date and time, number of days since sending (1 title), etc. are selected as mail designation keys.

The mail deletion means 6 is activated by supplying the above-mentioned mail designation key to the mail selection means 5. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mail selection means 5 when deleting mail, and the operation when deleting mail will be explained below with reference to FIG.

First, it is determined whether the supplied mail designation key designates a user (831).

When the e-mail specification key specifies a user, search the e-mail user management information area 12 using the e-mail specification key and read out the corresponding address information in step 832).
33), and further uses this address information to read user mailbox management information from areas 13b and 13c (834).
). Then, read out the corresponding text reading key information from the mail management information area 13a using the mail address information that is the key to retrieve the mail management information in the user mailbox management information (835), and send it to the mail deletion means 6 ( 836).

If it is found in step 831 that the mail designation key is not the user name, it is further checked whether or not the number of days has passed since transmission (process 537). If the email specification key is the number of days that have passed since sending, the sending date and time should be calculated by subtracting the number of days that have passed since sending from the current date and time (as determined by the system timer). Search area 11 (539) to find the address information in the mail management information area 13a, then use the mail specification key to search the mail management information area 13a (839).
The corresponding text reading key information is read out (535) and sent to the mail θ1 removal means 6 (836).

When the mail 81 deletion means 6 receives the text reading key information, it accesses the mail file 7 and deletes the corresponding mail text, and when this operation is normally completed, it issues an update instruction to the file usage status management means 4.

When the file usage status management means 4 receives an update instruction, it performs the update operation as follows depending on whether the mail designation key is a user name or not.

If it is a user name, 832, 833 and 834
Areas 12.13b to 1 respectively correspond to mail user management information, user mailbox management information, and text read key information corresponding to the searched or read results.
Delete from 3c and 13a. Further, if it is not the user name, the mail management information corresponding to the search result obtained in 839 is deleted from the area 13a.

Next, in the same way as when deleting an e-mail, when a request to output e-mail information is made to the e-mail information-list output means 8 by giving the user, sending date, number of days elapsed since sending, title, etc. as e-mail specification keys, the e-mail The information list output means 8 activates the mail selection means 5, outputs the corresponding mail management information, and outputs this to the printer file 9.

It will be more meaningful to output such a list of mail information if it is performed prior to the above-mentioned mail deletion.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention stores mail management information including key information for reading the mail text from a mail file in a mail management information area that is common to all users regarding the mail, and also stores the mail management information in a mail management information area common to all users regarding the mail. Address information in the management information area is stored, and the sending date and time is common to all users.

By making a purchase that allows you to access the email management information area using items such as the number of days elapsed since sending (9) or the user name as a key, you will be able to delete the email of the user specified by the key. It is possible to easily manage the usage amount of mail files and improve the usage efficiency of mail files.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by the file division usage means 3, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by the file usage status management means 4, and FIG. is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by the mail selection means 5. In the figure, 1... Mail management information file,
2...File initialization means, 3...File division usage means, 4...File usage status management means, 5...Mail selection means, 6. ...
...Mail deletion means, 7...Mail file,
8... Mail information - list output means, 9...
・Printer file, 11...File management information area, 12...Mail user management information area, 13a-13n...Mail management information area or user mailbox management information area 1. Area used for Noah etc., 41... Means for determining usage status, 4.
2...Address determining means, 43...7
)"L/S reservation means. \, Foil Figure 4 Foil Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] An electronic device that stores and manages mail management information including the user name, sending date and time, title, text retrieval key information, etc. of an email that has been sent and whose body is stored in a mail file. In a mail deletion method in a mail system, the mail management information file is divided into a plurality of areas used as a file area management information area, a mail user management information area, a user mailbox management information area, or a mail management information area. initialization means; file division use means for allocating and using each area divided by the file initialization means for each type of information to be stored; and the mail management information file that is divided and used by the file division use means. file usage status management means for managing the usage status of the email; email selection means for selecting and reading out the email management information from the email management information file based on a designated key; email deletion means for activating the email selection means and instructing to delete the email body in the email file specified by the read body text retrieval key information and update the corresponding email management information; E-mail management information related to e-mails is commonly stored for all users related to the e-mails in e-mail management information areas sequentially set in the divided management areas, and e-mail address information that is a key for retrieving the e-mail management information is stored. The address information of the area where the user mailbox management information exists is stored in the user mailbox management information area sequentially set in the divided management area for each user. A method for deleting mail in an e-mail system, characterized in that the e-mail is stored for each user in the e-mail system, and the e-mail can be deleted using the user name, sending date and time, title, and number of days elapsed since sending as keys.