JP2003196207A - Electronic mail control program, recording medium, and computer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail control application capable of mutually using data with the other application including a different kind of electronic mail control application. <P>SOLUTION: At the time of making a computer perform processing to prepare an electronic mail, the input of message information to be transmitted is accepted, and a specific identifier is given to the message information, and the field of the message information is stored in at least one table respectively including the identifier. Afterwards, the whole body of the message information corresponding to the identifier is prepared by referring to the table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to electronic mail transmission / reception control and message management.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Applications (hereinafter, referred to as electronic mail control applications) for transmitting and receiving electronic mail, creating new mail to be sent, managing received mail, etc. are widely used.

There are various types of electronic mail control applications. Conventionally, these electronic mail control applications have accumulated and managed electronic mail messages in their own formats.

[0004]

However, such a conventional technique has the following problems.

The first problem is that the electronic mail messages accumulated by a certain electronic mail control application cannot be used by other electronic mail control applications or applications other than the electronic mail control application. The reason is that each e-mail control application stores e-mail messages in a unique format.

The second problem is that the information accumulated by applications other than the electronic mail control application cannot be used when creating an electronic mail message. The reason is that each email control application stores and manages email by its own method, and does not have a general-purpose interface.

In view of such a situation, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an electronic mail control application that can mutually use data with other applications including another type of electronic mail control application. That is.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following electronic mail control program, recording medium and computer.

That is, according to the present invention, in an electronic mail control program for causing a computer to execute processing related to electronic mail, processing 1 for receiving an input of message information to be transmitted, processing 2 for giving a unique identifier to the message information, The computer is caused to execute a process 3 of accumulating fields of message information in at least one table A each including an identifier, and a process 4 of referring to the table A and creating the entire message information corresponding to the identifier. To provide an e-mail control program. According to such a program, the created message information is stored in the table A for each field, so that it can be easily reused by other applications.

At least process 3 among processes 1 to 4
May be processed by a database management program that cooperates with the electronic mail control program. More specifically, for example, the processes 1, 2, and 4 may be configured as OCX software components to cooperate with the database management program.

In this case, the database management program manages the previously registered table B in addition to the table A, and the process 4 further refers to the table B to create the entire message information. It is also possible to use the contents of the table B stored in advance in the management program. For example, the table B may store at least one of a name, a company name, a telephone number, an e-mail address, and an address. Alternatively, the table B may store a predetermined fixed phrase.

Further, according to the present invention, in an electronic mail control program for causing a computer to execute processing related to electronic mail, processing 1 for receiving message information from a computer other than the computer and processing 2 for giving a unique identifier to the message information. An electronic mail control program is provided which causes a computer to execute a process 3 of accumulating fields of message information in at least one table A each including an identifier.

In this electronic mail control program,
At least the process 3 among the processes 1 to 3 may be processed by the database management program that cooperates with the electronic mail control program. More specifically,
For example, processes 1, 2, and 4 may be configured as OCX software components to cooperate with a database management program.

In these electronic mail control programs, the message information may include at least one of date and time, sender address, title, text, destination address, destination attribute, and attached file as a field.

The present invention also provides a computer-readable recording medium that stores at least one of these e-mail control programs, and a computer that includes this recording medium and operates according to the e-mail control program. provide.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An electronic mail management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The electronic mail management system 1 controls an electronic mail and manages an electronic mail message by using a general-purpose database client application, and includes a network interface 11, a database client application 12 and a database 13.

The network interface 11 includes network lines L1, L2, ... Ln (n is 1, 2,
...). These lines are LAN, WAN,
It is directly connected to a computer network such as the Internet. Alternatively, it is indirectly connected through an analog telephone network of a telephone company or a digital network such as ISDN.

The database client application 12 and the database 13 operate on a personal computer or a workstation (not shown), and these are realized on the same computer or by distributing processing to a plurality of computers. May be.

The database client application 12 is a general-purpose database management application such as Microsoft Access (R) and has a database management function such as data storage, update, and search in the database 13. Further, the database client application 12 includes a mail function control means 14.
The mail function control means 14 is provided as an OCX software component. OCX software components are Microsoft OS, Microsoft Windows
An OLE custom control, which is one of the software components in (R).

The mail function control means 14 includes an electronic mail transmission / reception means 15, an electronic mail message assembling / disassembling means 16 and a storage means 17.

The e-mail sending / receiving means 15 sends the e-mail message created by the e-mail message assembling / disassembling means 16 to the network interface 11
And a function of receiving an e-mail message via the network interface 11.

The e-mail message assembling / disassembling means 16 extracts the data necessary for creating the e-mail message from the database 13 and composes the e-mail message according to the setting contents stored in the storage means 17, and the e-mail message. Of the E-mail and decomposes the e-mail message and stores the data in the designated field of the database 13.

The storage means 17 stores the settings of the association between each field of the database, the information (address, date, title, etc.) of the header part of the electronic mail message, the body, and the attached file.

The database 13 is composed of tables associated with each field of the message information such as the information (address, date, title, etc.) of the header part of the electronic mail message, the body, and the attached file. The message information is distributed and stored in.

In the database 13, a transmission mail box table 21, a transmission mail destination table 22, and a transmission mail attachment file table 23 are registered as tables for managing the transmission mail. The fields of these tables are composed of fields corresponding to the fields of the message information except some.

As shown in FIG. 2, the transmitted mail box table 21 includes a transmitted mail ID field 211, a date field 212, a sender address field 213,
It is composed of a title field 214 and a body field 215. The outgoing mail destination table 22 is composed of a outgoing mail destination ID field 221, a outgoing mail ID field 222, a destination attribute field 223, and a destination address field 224. The sent mail attached file table 23 is composed of a sent mail attached file ID field 231, a sent mail ID field 232, and an attached file field 233.

The transmitted mail box table 21 and the transmitted mail destination table 22 have a transmitted mail ID field 2
They are associated with each other via 11 and 221. Similarly, the outgoing mail box table 21 and the outgoing mail attachment file table 23 are associated with each other via the outgoing mail ID fields 211 and 231.

By managing the table for registering the basic data such as the body of the e-mail message and the table for registering the destination and the attached file as separate tables in this way, a plurality of basic data can be stored for one basic data. The destination and multiple attachments can be associated.

Further, in the database 13, a received mail box table 31, a received mail destination table 32 and a received mail attachment file table 33 are registered as tables for managing the received mail. As shown in FIG. 3, these tables have the same configurations as the outgoing mailbox table 21, outgoing mail destination table 22 and outgoing mail attachment file table 23, respectively.

Next, a mail creating and sending operation of the electronic mail management system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

The user of the e-mail management system 1 has in advance each field of the database and each field of the message information of the e-mail, that is, the information of the header part of the e-mail message (address, date, title, etc.),
The association with the text and attached file is set as shown in FIG. The mail function control means 14 stores the set contents in the storage means 17.

First, the database client application 12 receives a transmission mail creation request from a user (step A1) and displays a transmission mail message input screen. On the other hand, the user inputs the data of the outgoing mail message from the input screen (step A)
2). The contents input from the input screen are database 1
Sent Mail Box Table 21, Sent Mail Destination Table 22 and Sent Mail Attachment File Table 23
(Step A3). When values are stored in the respective fields in step A3, the transmitted mail box table 21, the transmitted mail destination table 22 and the transmitted mail attachment file table 23 become as shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, for example.

When the input of the outgoing mail message is completed and the mail sending request from the user is accepted, the database client application 12 instructs the electronic mail function control means 14 to use the outgoing mail ID 211 of the outgoing mail box table 21 as a key. , Issues a request for mail transmission (step A4). Now, it is assumed that the transmission mail address ID 211 requests the transmission of the message information having ID = 1.

Upon receiving the mail transmission request, the electronic mail message assembling / disassembling means 16 stores the storing means 17.
5, the sent mail ID field 211 of the sent mailbox table 21 is searched for the sent mail ID passed as a key, and the date field 212 of the searched record is searched. The date, the sender address from the sender address field 213, the title from the title field 214, and the body from the body field 215 are obtained (step A).
5). Since the request for the outgoing mail address ID = 1 has been made, in the example of FIG. 6, the date is “2001/02/08” and the sender address is “suzuki@ghi.xxx.yy”.
y ”, the title“ Title A ”, and the body“ Body-. ”.

Next, the sent mail ID field 222 of the sent mail destination table 22 is searched for the sent mail ID passed as a key, and the destination attribute field 223 and the destination address field 224 of the searched record are searched. Each destination address is acquired (step A6). When the transmitted mail address ID = 1, four destination addresses are acquired in the transmitted mail destination table 22 of FIG.

Next, attached mail attachment file table 2
The sent mail ID field 232 of No. 3 is searched for the sent mail ID passed as the key, and the attached file is acquired from the attached file field 233 of the searched record (step A7). In the case of the outgoing mail attachment file table 23 illustrated in FIG. 8, two attachment files are acquired.

Message information to be sent is created based on the results obtained in steps A5 to A7 (step A).
8). Message information as shown in FIG. 9 is created from the transmission mailbox table 21, the transmission mail destination table 22 and the transmission mail attachment file table 23 illustrated in FIGS.

Finally, the electronic mail transmitting / receiving means 15 transmits the created message information via the network interface 11 (step A9).

Next, the mail receiving operation of the electronic mail management system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

The user of the electronic mail management system 1 associates each field of the database with the information (address, date, title, etc.) of the header portion of the electronic mail message, the body, and the attached file in advance as shown in FIG. Set to. The mail function control means 14 stores the set contents in the storage means 17.

First, the database client application 12 accepts a received mail request from the user and issues a mail reception request to the electronic mail function control means 14 (step B1).

The electronic mail transmitting / receiving means 15 receives the electronic mail message via the network interface (step B2). As an example, it is assumed that the mail shown in FIG. 12 has been received.

The e-mail message assembling / disassembling means 16 analyzes the received e-mail message and disassembles the e-mail message (step B).
3), setting contents stored in the storage means 17 (see FIG. 1).
According to 1), it is stored in each field of the database 13 (step B4). At this time, a unique value between records is registered in the received mail ID field 311 of the received mail box table 31. The received mailbox table 31 when the mail of FIG. 12 is received stores the values as shown in FIG. 13, for example.

Next, the date and time in the Date field of the message information is registered in the date field 312. The sender address field 313 contains Fr of the received message information.
Register the email address in the om field. The subject field 314 contains the Subject of the received message information.
Register the email address for the field. The text information of the text field of the received message information is registered in the text field 315. 12 and 13, it can be seen that some of the fields of the received message information are stored in the corresponding fields of the received mailbox table 31.

Next, the To field of the message information, Cc
The information of the fields and the Bcc field is registered in the received mail destination table 32 for the number of destinations. The same data as the data registered in the received mail ID field 311 of the received mail box table 31 is registered in the received mail ID field 321. To in the destination attribute field 323
To is registered as a field destination, Cc is registered as a Cc field destination, and Bcc is registered as a Bcc field destination. A destination address is registered in the destination address field 324.

Finally, if files are attached to the received message information, the number of attached files is registered in the received mail attachment file table 33. The received mail ID field 332 contains the received mail ID field 31 of the received mail box table 31.
The same data as the data registered in 1 is registered. The attached file field 333 registers an attached file.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this, and modifications and improvements can be made within the scope of ordinary knowledge of those skilled in the art. Of course.

For example, in the electronic mail management system 1,
A plurality of destinations can be specified for one basic data, and a plurality of attached files can be attached.
However, if one basic data is limited to one destination and one attached file, in the table configuration, the destination attribute field, the destination address field,
Attachment fields may be combined in the send or receive mailbox table.

Further, in the electronic mail management system 1, a table for managing outgoing mails and a table for managing incoming mails are provided separately, but the corresponding tables are combined into one to determine whether to send or receive. A new field may be provided to accommodate this.

It is also possible that the user registers in advance the tables storing the data relating to the mail creation in the database 13 and uses these tables when creating a new mail. For example, a customer information table 160 as shown in FIG. 16 may be registered in advance and the data in the e-mail address field 165 may be cited as the destination information of the message information.

Further, as another example, a sentence frequently used in the main body of a fixed sentence table 170 as shown in FIG.
It is possible to register it in advance and insert it in the text as needed.

Further, by linking the customer information table and the fixed phrase table, it is possible to change a part of the fixed phrase according to the destination. In this case, a keyword for using the value stored in another table is set in advance. For example, the format of the keyword using the value stored in the field name “field 1” of the table having the table name “table instep” is
The fixed phrase table 180 as shown in FIG. 18 defined according to this format is defined as “& table A: field 1 &”.
Then, the customer information table 160 of FIG. 16 is registered in advance. In this state, when the user selects the customer information ID = 2 as the destination when creating the outgoing mail, the customer information table 160 is set as the keyword value of each fixed phrase stored in the fixed phrase field 182 of the fixed phrase table 180. The value stored in the corresponding field of
A table 190 like 9 is created. That is, the table 190 is a table after replacing the keyword portion of the fixed phrase table 180 with the corresponding value. By displaying such a table 190 to the user and the user selecting a desired fixed phrase in accordance therewith, a fixed phrase corresponding to the destination can be inserted into the text when composing a mail.

[0053]

The first effect is that an electronic mail control application can be easily created using a general-purpose database client application. This means that not only a new application can be easily created, but also an application that effectively uses an existing database used by a user can be created. The reason is that the above-mentioned email control means is created as an OCX software component,
This is because it can be incorporated into a general-purpose database client.

The second effect is that the data can be reused by an application other than the electronic mail control application. The reason is that it is possible to manage outgoing mail messages and incoming mail messages with a general-purpose database client application.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating fields of each table stored in a database 13 and associations between the tables.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating fields of each table stored in a database 13 and associations between the tables.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a mail creating and sending operation by the electronic mail management system 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table that defines the association between each field of the database 13 and each field of message information of an electronic mail to be transmitted.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission mailbox table 21 in a state where values are stored in fields.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission mail destination table 22 in a state where values are stored in fields.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission mail attachment file table 23 in a state where values are stored in fields.

9 is an example of message information created by the electronic mail management system 1. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a mail receiving operation by the electronic mail management system 1.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table that defines the association between each field of the database 13 and each field of the message information of the received electronic mail.

12 is an example of message information received by the electronic mail management system 1. FIG.

FIG. 13 is an example of the reception mailbox table 31 in a state where the message information of FIG. 12 is received and values are stored.

FIG. 14 is an example of a received mail destination table 32 in a state where the message information of FIG. 12 is received and values are stored.

FIG. 15 is an example of a received mail attachment file table 33 in a state where the message information of FIG. 12 is received and a value is stored.

FIG. 16 is an example of a customer information table.

FIG. 17 is an example of a fixed phrase table.

FIG. 18 is an example of a fixed phrase table.

FIG. 19 is an example of a fixed phrase table created by substituting the corresponding values in the customer information table 160 for the keywords of the fixed phrase table 180.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 E-mail management system 11 Network interface 12 Database Client Application 13 Database 14 Mail function control means 15 E-mail sending and receiving means 16 E-mail message assembly / disassembly means 17 storage means 21 Outgoing Mailbox Table 22 Sending mail destination table 23 Send Mail Attachment File Table 31 Received Mailbox Table 32 Received mail destination table 33 Received mail attachment file table 160 Customer information table 170, 180, 190 fixed phrase table 211 Sent mail ID field 212 Date field 213 Caller address field 214 title field 215 Body field 221 Sent mail destination ID field 222 Sent mail ID field 223 Destination Attribute Field 224 Destination Address field 231 Send Mail Attachment File ID Field 232 Sent mail ID field 233 Attachment field

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A process 1 for receiving an input of message information to be transmitted in an electronic mail control program for causing a computer to execute a process related to an electronic mail.
A process 2 for giving a unique identifier to the message information, and a process 3 for storing the fields of the message information in at least one table A each containing the identifier.
And an electronic mail control program for causing a computer to execute processing 4 for creating the entire message information corresponding to the identifier by referring to the table A. 2. The electronic mail control program according to claim 1, wherein at least processing 3 of the processings 1 to 4 is processed by a database management program cooperating with the electronic mail control program. And an email control program. 3. The electronic mail control program according to claim 2, wherein the database management program manages a previously registered table B in addition to the table A, and the process 4 further refers to the table B. An e-mail control program, characterized in that the entire message information is created. 4. The electronic mail control program according to claim 3, wherein the table B stores at least one of a name, a company name, a telephone number, an electronic mail address, and an address. program. 5. The electronic mail control program according to claim 3, wherein the table B stores a predetermined fixed phrase. 6. An electronic mail control program for causing a computer to execute processing related to electronic mail, processing 1 for receiving message information from a computer other than the computer, processing 2 for giving a unique identifier to the message information, and a message. An electronic mail control program for causing a computer to execute processing 3 for accumulating fields of information in at least one table A each including the identifier. 7. The electronic mail control program according to claim 6, wherein at least processing 3 of the processings 1 to 3 is processed by a database management program that cooperates with the electronic mail control program. And an email control program. 8. The electronic mail control program according to claim 1, wherein the message information is at least one of date and time, sender address, title, text, destination address, destination attribute, and attached file. An electronic mail control program comprising one of the fields. 9. A computer-readable recording medium storing at least one of the electronic mail control programs according to claim 1. Description: 10. A computer comprising the recording medium according to claim 9, and operating according to the electronic mail control program.