JPH1079756A - Electronic mail arrival notice device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic mail arrival notice device by which electronic mails with high importance are quickly informed and where it is prevented that electronic mails with a low importance resident without being noticed. SOLUTION: Only electronic mails whose arrival is not informed among electronic mails 11 stored in a mail spool 12 via an electronic line are extracted by an arrival unnoticed electronic mail filter 16, a storage time calculation section 17 calculates a stored time of each electronic mail 11, a maximum storage time extract section 18 extracts a maximum storage time, and a storage time sum calculation section calculates a sum of the storage times of each electronic mail 11. An importance evaluation section 20 obtains the importance based on rules stored in an importance evaluation rule storage section 21 and a highest importance extract section 22 extracts a maximum importance and an importance sum calculation section 23 calculates the sum of the importance. Then a notice discrimination section 24 discriminates whether or not each electronic mail 11 is to be noticed based on rules stored in a notice discrimination rule storage section 25 and an arrival notice execution section 14 informs the arrival of each electronic mail 11 to the user 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail arrival notification device for notifying a user of an incoming electronic mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, e-mail has been used very frequently.
A computer that is always connected to the network is installed, the computer receives an e-mail, and notifies the user of the arrival of the e-mail using the e-mail arrival notification software.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flow from when an electronic mail is received by a computer which is always connected to a network until the user reads the electronic mail. The e-mail transmitted via the information network 91 is transmitted to the system software 92.
Is stored in the mail spool 93. The mail spool 93 is monitored by incoming notification software 94, and when an electronic mail is stored in the mail spool 93,
The incoming call notification software 94 notifies the user 95 that the electronic mail has been stored in the mail spool. When the user 95 issues a command to the mail reader 96 to read the incoming e-mail, the mail reader 96 receives the command and reads the e-mail. Thus, the user 95 can read the electronic mail read by the mail reader 96.

As an example of a method for notifying a user of an incoming electronic mail as described above, b provided in unix
if. In this method, the e-mail delivered to the user is checked at specified time intervals, and if a new e-mail has been delivered, an alarm is issued to notify the user of the arrival of the e-mail. However, the above-described notification method has a problem in that the user is notified of the received e-mail at specified time intervals regardless of whether the importance is high or low.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6-120978 discloses a technique of notifying a low-importance electronic mail and notifying a high-priority electronic mail. A high e-mail can be quickly notified to the user.

[0006]

However, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-120978, electronic mails of low importance are accumulated without being notified to the user, and no electronic mail arrives. Or not
Or, there is a problem that it is not possible to grasp at all whether an e-mail of low importance has just arrived.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an e-mail arrival notification device which promptly notifies an e-mail of high importance and prevents the e-mail of low importance from being stored without being notified. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

A first electronic mail arrival notification device according to the present invention, which achieves the above object, is built in a terminal that sends and receives electronic mail via a communication line, and notifies the arrival of electronic mail. In the incoming call notifying apparatus, (1) a rule storing means for storing a rule for defining the importance of an incoming e-mail for each e-mail; Importance total value calculating means for obtaining the total importance value (3) When the total importance value calculated by the importance total value calculation means exceeds a predetermined value, the arrival of an e-mail not notified of the incoming call is received. Is provided.

The above-described electronic mail arrival notification device calculates the total value of the importance of electronic mail, and notifies the arrival of electronic mail when the total value exceeds a predetermined value. It is prevented from being notified each time an unimportant electronic mail arrives. Here, the above-described first e-mail arrival notification device of the present invention refers to the above-mentioned rule, and refers to the above-mentioned rule, and sets the importance maximum value calculating means for obtaining the maximum value among the importance values of the e-mails for which the arrival notification has not been completed. Preferably, the incoming call notifying means notifies an incoming of an unnotified email when the maximum value calculated by the importance maximum value calculating means exceeds a predetermined value.

[0010] By providing such an incoming call notifying means, an electronic mail having high importance is promptly notified. The second e-mail arrival notification device of the present invention that achieves the above object is a reception notification device that is built in a terminal that sends and receives an e-mail via a communication line and notifies the reception of the e-mail. ) Time difference total value calculating means for calculating the total value of each time difference between each incoming time of each incoming e-mail and the current time. (2) The total value of each time difference obtained by this time difference total value calculating means is a predetermined value. An incoming call notifying means is provided for notifying an incoming e-mail that has not been received when it exceeds the threshold.

[0011] The above-described electronic mail arrival notification device notifies an electronic mail when the total value of each time difference between each arrival time of each electronic mail and the current time exceeds a predetermined value. Prevent emails from accumulating without being notified. Here, the second e-mail arrival notification device includes a time difference calculation means for calculating a time difference between the arrival time of the earliest received e-mail among the e-mails for which the arrival notification has not been completed and the current time, The incoming notification means,
When the time difference calculated by the time difference calculation means exceeds a predetermined value, it is preferable to notify a list of e-mails that have not been notified of incoming calls.

The provision of such an incoming call notifying means prevents an e-mail from being notified for a long time.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail incoming notification device of the present invention. The electronic mail 11 is stored in a mail spool 12 via an electronic line. Among the electronic mails 11 stored in the mail spool 12, each of the electronic mails 11 for which the incoming notification has not been completed is determined by the incoming notification determining module 13 whether or not it is notified. Each e-mail 11 determined to be notified is received by the incoming notification
4 informs the user 15.

The following describes how the incoming call notification determining module 13 determines whether to notify the electronic mail 11 or not. The incoming-mail-not-notified email filter 16 extracts the incoming-mail-not-notified emails 11 from the emails 11 stored in the mail spool 12. The accumulation time calculating unit 17 calculates each time difference (called accumulation time) between each incoming time of the extracted e-mail 11 and the current time. The maximum value of the calculated accumulation times is extracted by the maximum accumulation time extraction unit 18, and the total value of the accumulation times is calculated by the accumulation time total value calculation unit 19.

In addition, the incoming call notifying electronic mail filter 16
Each e-mail extracted by the e-mail is stored in the storage time
The accumulation time is calculated by the
Thus, the importance is calculated based on the rules stored in the importance evaluation rule storage unit 21. The maximum value of the obtained importance levels is extracted by the maximum importance level extraction unit 22, and the total value of each importance level is calculated by the importance level total value calculation unit 23.

The notification determining unit 24 stores the extracted maximum value of the storage time and the maximum value of the importance and the calculated total value of the storage time and the total value of the importance in the rule stored in the notification determination rule storage unit 25. And whether to notify each e-mail is determined. The incoming call notification determining module 13 determines whether to notify in this way. The list of e-mails determined to be notified is notified to the user 15 by the incoming notification execution unit 14.

In the following, an incoming call notifying electronic mail filter 1 will be described.
A process performed by each unit constituting the incoming notification determination module 13 until the notification determination unit 24 determines whether the electronic mail 11 extracted in step 6 is notified will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the accumulation time calculation unit. In step S201, each time difference (accumulation time) between each incoming time of each electronic mail and the current time is obtained.

The maximum value of the accumulation times thus obtained is extracted by the maximum accumulation time extraction unit 18 shown in FIG. 1, and the total value of each accumulation time is calculated by the accumulation time total value calculation unit 19
Is calculated by FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the maximum accumulation time extracting unit. First, step S301
, The variable MAX is set to “0”, and then the operation indicated between the symbols L301 and L302 is performed for all the electronic mails in the mail spool. In step S302, it is determined whether the notification of the arrival of each electronic mail in the mail spool has not been completed. If it is determined that the incoming call notification has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S303. Step S30
In step 3, the storage time of the e-mail obtained according to the flowchart shown in FIG.
Proceed to. In step S304, the accumulation time is set to the variable MAX.
It is determined whether it is greater than. Storage time variable MAX
If it is determined that it is larger, the process proceeds to step S305. In step S305, the accumulation time is substituted for the variable MAX.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S302 that the incoming call notification has been completed, the process returns to step S3.
If it is determined in step S04 that the accumulation time is smaller than the variable MAX, the process proceeds to step S302 for another e-mail.
A series of operations from to S305 is performed again. In this way, the symbol L3 for all e-mails
The operation indicated between 01 and the symbol L302 is performed, and the process proceeds to step S306. In step S306, the variable M
AX is output as the maximum value of the accumulation time, and the process ends.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the accumulation time total value calculating section. First, in step S401, the variable SUM is set to "0", and then the operation indicated between the symbols L401 and L402 is performed for all the electronic mails in the mail spool. Step S
At 402, it is determined whether the notification of the arrival of each electronic mail in the mail spool has not been completed. If it is determined that the incoming call notification has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S403. Step S403
Then, the storage time of the e-mail obtained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 is extracted, and the process proceeds to step S404. In step S404, the accumulation time is added to the variable SUM.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S402 that the incoming call notification has been completed, a series of operations from step S402 to step S404 are performed again for another e-mail. In this way, the operation indicated between the symbols L401 and L402 is performed for all the e-mails, and the process proceeds to step S405. In step S405, the variable SUM is output as the total value of each accumulation time, and the process ends.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the importance evaluation section. First, the symbols L501 to L50
2 are performed. Step S501
In, it is determined whether each e-mail satisfies each of the importance evaluation rules shown in Table 1 stored in the importance evaluation rule storage unit 21 shown in FIG.

[0023]

[Table 1]

If each e-mail does not meet the conditions of the importance evaluation rules shown in Table 1, the process proceeds to step S502. In step S502, the degree of importance of the electronic mail is set as a default value, and the process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S501 that each e-mail satisfies the condition of the importance evaluation rule shown in Table 1, the process proceeds to step S503. In step S503, the importance of the e-mail is determined as the importance defined in the importance evaluation rule shown in Table 1, and the process ends.

The maximum value of the respective degrees of importance obtained in this way is extracted by the maximum degree of importance extraction section 22, and the total value of the respective degrees of importance is calculated by the totality degree of importance calculation section 23.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the maximum importance extracting unit. First, in step S601, the variable MAX is set to "0", and then, for all e-mails in the mail spool, the values between the symbols L601 and L602 are set. Are performed. In step S602, it is determined whether the notification of the arrival of each electronic mail in the mail spool has not been completed. If it is determined that the incoming call notification has not been completed, step S
Proceed to 603. In step S603, the degree of importance of the e-mail obtained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is extracted, and the process proceeds to step S604. Step S604
Then, it is determined whether the importance of the e-mail is greater than the variable MAX. If it is determined that the importance is greater than the variable MAX, the process proceeds to step S605. Step S60
In step 5, the degree of importance is assigned to a variable MAX.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S602 that the incoming call notification has been completed, the process returns to step S604.
If it is determined that the importance is smaller than the variable MAX, the series of operations from step S602 to step S605 is performed again for another e-mail. In this way, the operation shown between the symbol L601 and the symbol L602 is performed for all the e-mails, and step S
Proceed to 606. In step S606, the variable MAX is output as the maximum value of the importance, and the process ends.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the total importance calculating section. First, in step S701, the variable SUM is set to “0”, and then the operation shown between the symbols L701 and L702 is performed for all the electronic mails in the mail spool. Step S
At 702, it is determined whether the notification of the arrival of each electronic mail in the mail spool has not been completed. If it is determined that the incoming call notification has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S703. Step S703
Then, the importance of the e-mail obtained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is extracted, and the process proceeds to step S704. In step S704, importance is added to the variable SUM.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S702 that the incoming call notification has been completed, a series of operations from step S702 to step S704 are performed again for another electronic mail. In this way, the operation shown between the symbols L701 and L702 is performed for all the e-mails, and the process proceeds to step S705. In step S705, the variable SUM is output as the sum of the respective degrees of importance, and the process ends.

The maximum value of the storage time and the maximum value of the importance extracted according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, and the total value of the storage time and the total value of the importance calculated according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. Is evaluated by the notification determination unit 24 based on the rules stored in the notification determination rule storage unit 25, and it is determined whether or not each electronic mail is to be notified.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the notification judging unit. First, a symbol L801 to a symbol L802
The operation shown between is performed. In step S801, the maximum value of the storage time, the maximum value of the importance, the total value of the storage time, and the total value of the importance are stored in the notification determination rule storage unit 25 shown in FIG. It is determined whether the condition is satisfied.

[0031]

[Table 2]

If the condition of the notification determination rule is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S802. In step S802, the process ends without doing anything. On the other hand, in step S801, if there is one that satisfies the condition of the notification determination rule, the process proceeds to step S803. In step S803, an execution command defined in each rule as shown in Table 2 is output, and the process ends.

As described above, in the electronic mail arrival notification device according to one embodiment of the present invention, when the maximum value of the accumulation time, the maximum value of the importance, the total value of the accumulation time, and the total value of the importance exceed predetermined values. In addition, since the notification of the arrival of the e-mail that has not yet been received is notified, it is possible to prevent the notification from being received every time an e-mail of low importance arrives, and to promptly notify the e-mail of high importance It is also possible to prevent e-mails of low importance from accumulating without being notified.

The above-described electronic mail arrival notification device calculates the storage time of the electronic mail, obtains the importance of the electronic mail, and determines whether or not to notify the arrival of the electronic mail. Alternatively, it may be determined whether to notify the arrival of the e-mail by using only one of the accumulation time of the e-mail and the importance of the e-mail.

[0035]

As described above, according to the e-mail receiving apparatus of the present invention, an e-mail with a high importance is promptly notified, and the e-mail with a low importance is accumulated to a certain extent. You can be notified later.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic mail incoming notification device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an accumulation time calculation unit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a maximum accumulation time extracting unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a storage time total value calculation unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an importance evaluation unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a maximum importance extraction unit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a total importance calculating unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a notification determination unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flow from when an electronic mail is received by a computer with a constant network connection until the user reads the electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 91 Information Network 92 System Software 93 Mail Spool 94 Incoming Notification Software 95 User 96 Mail Reader

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An incoming call notifying device built in a terminal for sending and receiving e-mails via a communication line and notifying of incoming e-mails, wherein a rule for defining the importance of the incoming e-mails for each e-mail is stored. A rule storage means for storing, an importance total value calculating means for referring to the rule and calculating a total value of importance of the e-mails for which the incoming notification has not been completed, and an importance value calculated by the importance total value calculating means. An incoming-mail notifying device, comprising: an incoming-mail notifying unit for notifying the incoming of an un-received electronic mail when the total value of the degrees exceeds a predetermined value. 2. An importance maximum value calculating means for referring to the rule and obtaining a maximum value of the importance of the electronic mail for which the incoming notification has not been completed, wherein the incoming notification means calculates the maximum importance value. 2. The electronic mail arrival notification device according to claim 1, wherein when the maximum value obtained by the means exceeds a predetermined value, the arrival of the electronic mail not notified of the arrival is notified. 3. An incoming call notifying device built in a terminal for sending and receiving an electronic mail via a communication line and notifying the incoming of the electronic mail, wherein a sum of each time difference between each incoming time of each incoming electronic mail and the current time is provided. A time difference total value calculating means for obtaining a value; and an incoming notification means for notifying of the arrival of a non-received e-mail when the total value of each time difference calculated by the time difference total value calculating means exceeds a predetermined value. An e-mail arrival notification device, comprising: 4. A time difference calculating means for calculating a time difference between an incoming time of an earliest received e-mail among the e-mails for which the incoming notification has not been completed and a current time, wherein the incoming notification means is provided by the time difference calculating means. 4. The e-mail arrival notification device according to claim 3, wherein when the calculated time difference exceeds a predetermined value, the arrival of the e-mail that has not been notified is notified.