JPH0746271A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electronic mail system acquiring a desired electronic mail quickly while utilizing effectively a disk resource. CONSTITUTION:An electronic mail stored in a mail box 10a of a mail server 10 is classified for each preset keyword by using a mail archive server 12 and retrieves the file server 11 by using said keyword from a work station 13 or 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system, and more particularly to an electronic mail system that classifies electronic mails by keywords and stores them in a file server and retrieves a desired electronic mail from the file server.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, one of the important functions of a network system is a mail service for exchanging messages between users who join the network by a store-and-forward method via a mail server.

In this mail service, not only the mail service for individual users but also the mail service for groups are targeted, and in this case, the distribution list (hereinafter referred to as "D").
Groups are often managed using a user list called "L".

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example in which users are grouped using DL. In this example, users who join the network are divided into three groups DL1, DL2 and DL3, and DL1, a, b, c.
, D, e, and f have joined DL2, and g, h, and i have joined DL3.

FIG. 6B is a diagram showing the flow of processing when the user b of DL1 sends an electronic mail to DL2. In the mailbox, B6 for each DL is shown.
Areas for storing three electronic mails 1, B62, B63 are provided.

Here, for example, when the user b sends an e-mail addressed to DL2, the area B in the mailbox is
The e-mail is stored in 62 (S601), and at the same time, the arrival of the e-mail is notified to the three DL2 users d, e, and f (S602).

When the user who receives this notification requests the sending of the electronic mail, the mail server takes out the electronic mail from the area B62 of the mailbox and sends it to the user.

The user who receives the e-mail from the mail server does not always download the e-mail to the workstation, but only confirms the contents of the e-mail and retrieves the e-mail again when it becomes necessary later. In many cases, if the user can search the e-mail stored in the mailbox whenever necessary, the e-mail can be used more effectively.

When the mailbox is searched by using the conventional technique, the electronic mails stored in the area assigned to the DL to which the own site belongs are searched in the order of receipt in the mailbox.

[0010]

However, according to this conventional technique, the e-mails are collectively stored in the order of reception in each storage area in the mailbox for storing the e-mails addressed to the DL. When there are many DL subscribers, the search efficiency is poor, and it takes time to specify and retrieve a desired e-mail.

Here, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-369141, there is a configuration in which a medium for storing mail is selected in view of characteristics of the medium such as high speed of a semiconductor disk. Are known. With this configuration, it is possible to store an e-mail, which requires promptness, in a semiconductor disk with a fast response, but achieves the speedup of the search time itself required for specifying a desired e-mail. It is not possible.

Further, according to the above-mentioned conventional technique, when the user receives the notification of arrival of the electronic mail, the user only refers to the electronic mail, and may retrieve the electronic mail from the storage area of the DL to which the user belongs at a later date to use the electronic mail. Because there is a DL
It is necessary to keep the e-mail in the storage area corresponding to.

Here, in order to avoid the situation where the electronic mail is lost due to a failure or the like, the electronic mail stored in the mailbox is often backed up in a file server for each DL.

However, e-mail is always a D
The same e-mail may be sent to a plurality of DLs instead of being sent to L. Therefore, if the mailbox is backed up for each DL, the same e-mail will be stored redundantly in the file server.
This causes a problem that the memory usage efficiency of the file server is reduced.

For example, in FIG. 6, users a and b belonging to DL1, users d and e belonging to DL2, and D
When the same email is sent to the user g who belongs to L3, the emails are B61, B62 and B6.
Since it is stored in 3, the same mail will be backed up in 3 places even in the file server.

If such duplicated storage of mails frequently occurs and the duplicated storage of the same mails is accumulated, the effective use of the memory of the file server cannot be achieved.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electronic mail system which solves the above problems and enables the desired electronic mail to be quickly obtained while making effective use of disk resources.

[0018]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention stores a received electronic mail in a mailbox and delivers the electronic mail to the user in response to the user's delivery request. And an electronic mail system in a network including a file server, storing means for classifying electronic mail stored in the mailbox for each predetermined keyword and storing the classified electronic mail in the file server, and the user using the keyword to store the electronic mail. And a search means for searching a desired electronic mail from the file server.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the electronic mails stored in the mailbox of the mail server are classified into preset keywords and stored in the file server, and when the user retrieves the desired electronic mail, The file server is searched using the keyword, and the electronic mail is retrieved.

As a result, the disk resources can be effectively used and the user can quickly obtain the desired electronic mail.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail system which is an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention comprises a mail server 10, a file server 11, a mail archive server 12, workstations 13 and 14, and a network 15.

First, the mail server 10 is a server that provides an electronic mail service to users who handle the workstations 13 and 14, and uses the archiver mailbox 10a provided in the server to provide a storage exchange type mail service. provide.

The archiver mailbox 10a is a storage medium for storing the electronic mail sent from the user. For example, if the mail server 10 receives an electronic mail addressed to DL1, the electronic mail is stored in the storage area of DL1. It

Next, the file server 11 is a server that provides a file service to users who handle the workstations 13 and 14, and the digest database 11a used for mail service is provided inside the server.
And a keyword table 11d.

The digest database 11a is a database for storing the electronic mails stored in the archiver mailbox 10a by classifying them for each keyword at a predetermined time interval, and stores each electronic mail itself in a mail area 11b and each electronic mail. It is composed of a digest area 11c for extracting and storing a header portion such as a mail title.

The keyword table 11d is a table used for classifying the electronic mails stored in the archiver mailbox 10a. Therefore, the electronic mail stored in the digest database 11a is classified according to the keyword table 11d.

Next, the mail archive server 12 is a server that plays the role of an "archiver" that collects a plurality of files and one file into one file. The plurality of e-mails stored in the archiver mailbox 10a are classified by keyword. It is to be archived. This server includes a keyword table controller 12a required for archiving, an archiver mailbox controller 12b, and a digest creator 12c.

Keyword table controller 12a
Is a keyword table 1 provided in the file server 11.
The controller 1d is used when registering a keyword and changing a database update interval. When registering the keyword in the keyword table 11d, the address for storing the electronic mail is also set.

The mailbox controller 12b is a controller for controlling the archiver mailbox 10a in the mail server 10, takes out an email from the archiver mailbox 10a at a designated time, and sends the email to the digest creator 12c. To do.

The digest creator 12c extracts the header part of the electronic mail received from the mailbox controller 12b and stores it in the digest area 11c, and also stores the electronic mail itself in the mail area 11b.

When storing the electronic mail and its digest, the electronic mail is stored in the digest area 11c of the digest database 11 by referring to the address given when the user sends the electronic mail.

The workstation 13 is a terminal for sending and receiving electronic mail, and is provided with a table lookup 13a, a mail tool 13b, and a digest tool 13c as tools for requesting and searching for electronic mail.

The table lookup 13a is for displaying keywords in the keyword table 11d. When a keyword is added to an electronic mail sent by the user, and when the user makes a digest database 11a.
This is a tool used when searching for.

The mail tool 13b includes a sending tool used for sending an electronic mail, a keyword selecting tool for selecting and inputting a keyword corresponding to the electronic mail, and the like.

The digest tool 13c is a tool used when searching a desired electronic mail from the digest database 11a using a keyword.

As with the workstation 13, the workstation 14 is also provided with a table lookup 14a, a mail tool 14b, and a digest tool 14c.

The respective configurations of the electronic mail system have been described above. Looking at the overall configuration of this embodiment, there is a function of archiving electronic mail for each keyword and storing it in a file server as compared with the conventional electronic mail system. It is understood that the configuration is such that the function of searching the file server from the workstation is added.

Next, a procedure for setting the keyword and the update time of the digest database 11a in the keyword table 11d in the electronic mail system having the above configuration will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a procedure for registering keywords and setting update times in the keyword table 11d. These settings are performed by the mail archive server 1.
It is done for 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, when a desired keyword is input to the mail archive server 12, the keyword table controller 12a provided in the mail archive server 12 sends the keyword to the file server 1.
It is registered in the keyword table 11d provided in 1.

For example, "personnel information", "general affairs information",
When four keywords "accounting information" and "general management information" are input, these four keywords are registered in the keyword table controller 12a as shown in the figure.

Also when setting the update time of the digest database 11a, the update time is input to the mail archive server 12 as in the case of setting the keyword, and the keyword table controller 12a sets the update time in the keyword table 11d. Will be done.

When setting the update time, not only is all the e-mails in the archiver mailbox updated at the same time, but as shown in the figure, the keyword "HR information" is set at 3 o'clock and "General affairs information". For 4 o'clock, "Accounting information" for 5 o'clock, "General management information"
For, it is possible to set the update time at 6 o'clock. It is also possible to add an update cycle to the update time, for example, set "personnel information" monthly, "general affairs information" weekly, and "accounting information" and "general management information" daily. it can. In this example, the update date of “personnel information” and “general affairs information” is based on the keyword input date.

Further, in the above example, only the registration of the keyword is shown, but it is possible to additionally register a new keyword.

In this way, the keyword table 11
By registering the desired keyword and setting the update time for d, the registration of the keyword necessary for classifying the digest database 11a and the setting of the update time are completed.

Next, the procedure for archiving the electronic mail stored in the archiver mailbox 10a and storing it in the digest database 11a will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, if the mailbox controller 12b confirms that it is time to update the electronic mail by referring to the keyword table 11d (S
301), take out the electronic mail from the archiver mailbox 10a (S302), and transfer the electronic mail to the digest creator 12c (S303).

Then, the digest creator 12c receiving the e-mail extracts the header part from each e-mail to create a digest, stores the digest in the digest area 11c of the digest database 11a, and the received e-mail itself receives the digest. The keywords are classified and stored in the mail area 11b in the database 11a (S304).

By performing the above processing, it is possible to periodically classify the electronic mails in the archiver mailbox 10a for each keyword and store them in the digest database. In addition, the digest version of the e-mail created in the above process is used for the workstation 13 or 14
You can use it to search emails from.

The above processing corresponds to the backup processing of the mailbox to the file server, which is performed in the conventional electronic mail system, but is different in that the keywords are sorted and a digest is created and stored in the file server. To do.

As described above, by using the configuration of setting the keyword described with reference to FIG. 2 and storing the electronic mail described with reference to FIG. 3 in the file server, the user can access the electronic mail from the digest database 11a. You will be able to search.

Next, an electronic mail transmission procedure and an electronic mail search procedure performed by the user will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the workstation 13 or 14.
It is a figure which shows the procedure in which a user transmits an electronic mail from.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the user activates the mail tool 13b, the table lookup 13a is executed.
Imports the keyword information set in the keyword table 11d into the workstation 13 via the keyword table controller 12a (S401 to S40).
2) It is transferred to the mail tool 13b (S402).
The mail tool that receives this keyword displays the keyword and waits for input from the user.

Here, the user selects the keyword most relevant to the e-mail to be transmitted from the displayed keywords and inputs the selected keyword name (S40).
4).

Then, in the mail tool 13b, a keyword field is added to the subject of the electronic mail,
The selected keyword and the address corresponding to the keyword are stored in the keyword field and the e-mail is transmitted (S405).

By performing the above processing, the keyword most suitable for the e-mail can be selected from the keywords registered in the keyword table and can be transmitted together with the e-mail. Therefore, the mail archiver server 12
It is possible to classify emails performed by

Next, a process in which the user searches the digest database 11a to obtain a desired electronic mail will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the user activates the digest tool 13c, the digest area of the digest database 11a can be searched first. That is, the user searches for a desired electronic mail while referring to the title of the electronic mail included in the header information of each electronic mail, and when the desired electronic mail is found, the user specifies the electronic mail.

Here, not only the mail area but also the digest area is classified for each keyword, so that a desired electronic mail can be quickly searched using this keyword.

When the title of the electronic mail is designated, the digest tool 13c takes out the designated electronic mail from the mail area, and the workstation 1
It will be taken into 3.

By performing the above processing, the user can select a desired electronic mail by referring to the digest of the electronic mail classified by the keyword, so that the electronic mail can be quickly obtained.

In this e-mail system, the digest database 11a is not divided for each DL, but is divided for each keyword in common with the DL. Therefore, it is not necessary to consider in which DL a desired e-mail exists. Searchable.

At this time, the searchable range of the electronic mail can be limited by using the ID and password generally used in the database system, or by using the technique of layering the accessible area.

As described above, in this embodiment, the electronic mail stored in the archiver mailbox 10a is classified into each keyword and stored in the mail area 11b of the digest database 11a, and the header portion of the electronic mail is used as a digest. Since it is configured to retrieve and store it in the digest area 11c and retrieve the desired email by searching the digest database 11a when the user uses the email,
While making effective use of the disk resources of the file server,
It becomes possible for the user to search for a desired electronic mail quickly and efficiently by using the keyword and the electronic mail digest.

Also, the digest database 11a
Will be able to search e-mails not addressed to its own station. Therefore, by restricting the search technology and authentication technology such as passwords, the search for e-mails not addressed to its own station will be restricted. You can also

Further, since the mail server 10 is not required to have a special hardware configuration other than the storage capacity, the mail server 10 can be shared with the file server 11 to simplify the processing.

In this embodiment, the case where the header part is extracted from the electronic mail when the digest is created from the electronic mail has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the contents of the electronic mail can be changed. It is also possible to extract and make a digest.

[0071]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the electronic mails stored in the mailbox are classified into predetermined keywords and stored in the file server, and the user uses the keywords to transfer from the file server. Since it is configured to search for a desired electronic mail, the following effects can be obtained.

1) The user can search the file server and efficiently obtain a desired electronic mail.

2) It becomes possible to effectively use the disk resources of the file server.

3) The backup data of the mailbox can be effectively used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a procedure for setting a desired keyword and update time in the keyword table shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a procedure of organizing, by keyword, electronic mail stored in the archiver mailbox shown in FIG. 1 into a digest database.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a procedure for a user to send an electronic mail from the workstation shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a process in which a user searches a digest database to obtain a desired electronic mail.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a processing procedure of a distribution list and a conventional electronic mail service.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 10 mail server, 10a archiver mailbox, 11 file server, 11a digest database, 11b mail area, 11c digest area, 11d keyword table, 12 mail archive server, 12a keyword table controller, 12b mailbox controller, 1
2c digest creator, 13 workstation, 13a table lookup, 13b mail tool, 13c digest tool, 14 workstation, 15 network

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of terminals connected to a network for sending and receiving electronic mail and an electronic mail received from the network are stored in a mailbox, and the electronic mail is delivered to a destination terminal of the electronic mail. In an electronic mail system including a mail server for storing, storing means for classifying the electronic mail stored in the mailbox for each predetermined keyword and storing it in a file server connected to the network, provided in the terminal, An electronic mail system, comprising: a search unit that searches for a desired electronic mail from the file server using the keyword.