JPH05167610A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent occurrence of a system fault and to improve the reliability by selecting one processing among predetermined processing sets and executing processing for an unread mail in existence in a mail storage section so as to relieve the load of the mail storage section. CONSTITUTION:An unread mail management section 3 executes a date of an unread mail in a mail storage section 2. When an unread mail in excess of a prescribed period is in existence among unread mails, the implementation of the processing to the unread mail is decided, and the processing (e.g. transfer to other medium, completion or delete or the like) set by an execution processing setting section 31 is transited. When the transfer to other medium is set to the execution processing setting section 31, an execution processing setting section 31 mail management section 3 transfers an unread mail whose time elapses by a prescribed period to a secondary storage section 4 to revise an unread mail header list. Moreover, when deletion of an unread mail whose time elapses by a prescribed period to the execution processing setting section 31, the content of the unread mail is deleted and, and the relevant mail is deleted from the unread mail header list.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

This invention relates to an electronic mail system,
More specifically, it relates to management of unread mail stored in the mail storage unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows, for example, JP-A-2-241241.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a configuration of a conventional electronic mail system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. JP-A-2003-242, in which a mail processing unit 1 controls mail transmission / reception, and a mail receiving unit 11 connected to a communication line Similarly, a mail transmission unit 12 is provided. Reference numeral 2 denotes a mail storage unit, which stores mail sent from a disk or the like.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing a method of managing mail in the electronic mail system shown in FIG. 6, and S100 to S103 in the figure respectively indicate respective steps.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 7 shows the processing when a new mail arrives, and step S100
Then, the mail processing unit 1 determines the arrival of a new mail, and when a new mail arrives, the mail processing unit 1 stores the mail received as the normal mail processing in the mail storage unit 2 in the next step S101. FIG. 8 shows a process when the user reads a mail. When the mail processing unit 1 receives a read request from the user in step S102, the mail processing unit 1 stores the requested mail in the storage unit 2 in the next step S103. And sends it to the user via the mail sending unit 12.

[0005]

Since the conventional electronic mail system as described above is constructed and operates as described above, once the mail is stored in the mail storage unit 2, unless a read request is made by the user. The mail remains in the mail storage unit 2. Therefore, when the frequency of use decreases (that is, when the stored mail is read less frequently by the user), unnecessary and unread mails are sequentially accumulated in the mail accumulating unit 2, and the capacity of the disk is limited. There is a problem that a certain mail storage unit 2 overflows.

Further, there is a problem that the sender of the mail does not know which of the sent mails is read by the other party.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and reduces the load on the mail storage unit to prevent the occurrence of a system failure, and also has a highly reliable electronic mail system as a communication system. Is intended to provide.

[0008]

In the electronic mail system according to the present invention, the unread mail header list in which the status of each mail stored in the mail storage section is recorded and the user has not read the mail for a predetermined period or longer. An unread mail management unit that has an execution process setting unit that selects the processing of unread mail is provided, and the unread mail management unit excludes unread mail that has not been read by the user for a predetermined period or more from the mail storage unit. Then, the unread mail processed in this way is notified to the user by the notification means.

[0009]

In the electronic mail system configured as described above, it is possible to prevent unread mails from accumulating in the mail accumulating section for a long period of time without a read request from the user.
The sender becomes aware that the sent mail is not read.

[0010]

EXAMPLES Example 1. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 indicate the same or corresponding portions, and 3 is an unread mail management unit, in which the unread mail header list contains It is provided.
Reference numeral 31 denotes an execution process setting unit provided in the unread mail management unit 3, which sets one of a plurality of processes to be performed on an unread mail. A secondary storage unit 4 is set from a plurality of processes.

Next, the operation will be described. Figure 2, Figure 3,
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of each embodiment. First, the unread mail process will be described with reference to FIG.
In step S1, the unread mail management unit 3 checks the date of the unread mail in the mail storage unit 2. And
In the next step S2, if there is an unread mail that has passed a predetermined period among the unread mail, the next step S2
In 3 decided to process the unread mail,
The process set in the execution process setting unit 31 is performed.

In the execution process setting section 31, one of a plurality of processes (for example, moving to another medium, compression, deletion, etc.) for unread mail can be selected and set. A case where the execution process setting unit 31 is set to move to another medium will be described. If the execution process setting unit 31 is set to move to another medium,
In step S5, the unread mail management unit 3 moves the unread mail that has passed the predetermined period to the secondary storage unit 4, and updates the unread mail header list in the next step S6.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of the unread mail header list described above. This unread mail header list 6 is provided in a table in the unread mail management unit 3, and as shown in FIG. A message number 61, a sender 62, a recipient 63, and a mail status 64 are written for each mail stored in the section 2. Then, the state 64 of the mail is set and updated by the execution process setting unit 31 at any time. For example, "u" is written when the mail is unread even after a predetermined period has passed, and "m" is written when the mail is moved. That is, in this embodiment, the mail is moved to the secondary storage unit 4 in step S5 of FIG. 2, and thus the mail state 64 of the mail in the mail header list 6 is updated from "u" to "m" in step S6.

The case where the movement to another medium is set in the execution process setting unit 31 has been described above. However, in the case where the unread mail after a predetermined period has been set in the execution process setting unit 31 is deleted. Is from step S4 to step S
Move to 20, delete the contents of unread mail, step S2
In step 1, the mail status 64 of the corresponding mail in the unread mail header list 6 is set as the deleted mail status “d”. Also,
If another process (for example, compression) is set in the execution process setting unit 31, the process proceeds from step S4 to steps S22 and S23, and the set process (process C) is executed.

Example 2. In the first embodiment, as described above, the frequency of reading from the user is low, unnecessary unread mail is accumulated in the mail accumulation unit 2, and overflow of the mail accumulation unit 2 including a disk and having a limited capacity is prevented. However, as it is, it is not understood that the sender could not read the email. In order to solve this problem, in the second embodiment, when the processing of the unread mail is completed, the process proceeds to step S7, and the unread mail management unit 3 notifies the sender of the mail that the mail is unread even after a predetermined period of time. A notification mail to be transmitted is created, and in the next step S8, the notification mail is sent to the sender via the mail transmission unit 12 to notify the sender that the mail has not been read.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing when a new mail arrives in the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, which corresponds to FIG. 7 in the conventional system. When the arrival of the mail is judged and a new mail arrives, the next step S10.
Then, the mail received by the mail processing unit 1 as a normal mail process is stored in the mail storage unit 2. Then, in the next step S11, the unread mail management unit 3 updates the information regarding the mail in the mail header list 6. That is, the status 64 of the newly arrived unread mail is set to "u".

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing when the user reads the mail in the first and second embodiments.
This corresponds to FIG. 8 in the conventional system, and when the mail processing unit 1 receives a read request from the user in step S12, the mail processing unit 1 is processed in the next step S13.
Takes out the requested mail from the mail storage unit 2,
In the next step S14, the unread mail management unit 3 updates the information regarding the mail in the unread mail header list 6.
That is, since the unread mail is read, the portion related to the mail is deleted from the unread mail header list 6.

[0018]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

By providing a means for managing unread mails existing in the mail storage unit, it is possible to prevent the unread mails from being stored, reduce the load on the mail storage unit, and prevent a system failure due to an overflow. it can.

Further, by notifying the sender of the unread mail that the mail has not been read, the reliability of the communication system can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of a new mail according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a mail reading process according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an unread mail header list in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation in the conventional system.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation in the conventional system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 mail processing part 2 mail storage part 3 unread mail management part 4 secondary storage part 6 unread mail header list 11 receiving part 12 sending part 31 execution process setting part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An e-mail system in which an e-mail sent from a sender is temporarily stored in a mail accumulating section, read from the e-mail accumulating section and transmitted to a user in response to a read request from the user. A mail header list that records the status of each stored mail, and means for extracting unread mail that has not been read by the user for a predetermined period or more,
Each process specified in advance in the extracted unread mail (for example,
"Move to secondary storage", "Delete as is",
An electronic mail system, comprising means for selecting and executing one of the processes (such as “perform compression processing”) and excluding it from the mail storage unit. 2. The electronic mail according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying the sender of the mail that the mail has not been read after selecting and executing the one processing. system.