E-mail device, e-mail management method and e-mail program

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD [Detailed description of the invention]

【0001】

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

The present invention relates to an e-mail device for receiving and managing e-mail, an e-mail management method, and an e-mail program.

【0002】

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the development of the Internet, the Internet has been widely used in business. E-mail is the most used Internet tool for business. E- mail is used for business negotiations and information exchange with specific parties, and for other information gathering. E-mails for collecting information include e-mail newsletters and direct mails.

【0003】

E-mail from people with whom you negotiate or exchange information is usually relatively important, but e-mail newsletters and direct mail are not always necessary. Therefore, when many e-mails are received, it is difficult to check all the contents of the e-mails. Therefore, identify important e-mails and e-mails such as e-mail newsletters and direct mails that are not always necessary. Various choices must be made and priorities must be set.

【0004】

However, the received e-mail only displays the title (subject) and sender (e-mail address), and before checking the contents of the e-mail, the necessary e-mail is extracted from many received e-mails. Prioritizing was a very burdensome task.

【0005】

Conventionally, there is an e-mail program that has a function of classifying received e-mails by displaying them in a specific color according to the sender of the e-mail, but it is only possible to distinguish the senders. It was not possible to grasp the priority of e-mail.

【0006】

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

In this way, conventional e-mail programs can distinguish received e-mails, but cannot give priorities determined by personal judgment. For this reason, in order to prioritize a large number of received e-mails, it is necessary to check each e-mail, which is a very troublesome work and the processing tends to be delayed. Therefore, there are problems such as overlooking important e-mails and wasting time checking the contents of unnecessary e-mails.

【0007】

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and automatically determines the priority of received e-mails without requiring any special work by the user before confirming the contents of the e-mails. The purpose is to provide e-mail devices, e-mail management methods, and e-mail programs that can be used.

【0008】

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention solves such a problem, and the invention of claim 1 stores priority information for determining a priority for a received e-mail in an e-mail device that receives an e-mail. Priority information stored in the priority storage means according to the priority storage means, the mail operation determination means for determining the operation content for the received e-mail, and the operation content determined by the mail operation determination means. It is characterized by having a priority updating means for updating.

【0009】

The invention of claim 2 of the present invention is based on the priority determination means for determining the priority of the received e-mail based on the priority information stored in the priority storage means, and the priority determination means. Based on the determined priority, the sorting means for sorting the received e-mails in the list display and the sorting means for sorting the received e-mails, and the received e-mails in the sorting order sorted by the sorting means. It is characterized by having an e-mail display means for displaying a list of e-mails.

【0010】

The invention of claim 3 of the present invention is discriminated by the update mail discriminating means for discriminating the reception of an e-mail for instructing the update of the priority information stored in the priority storage means and the update mail discriminating means. It is characterized in that it is provided with a priority information updating means for updating the priority information stored in the priority storage means according to the e-mail.

【0011】

The invention of claim 4 of the present invention is an e-mail discriminating means for discriminating whether or not an e-mail meets a predetermined condition based on the priority information stored in the priority storage means, and the e-mail discriminating means. It is characterized in that it is provided with a mail operation means for restricting operations on the e-mail when it is determined by the means that the e-mail corresponds to a predetermined condition.

【0012】

The invention of claim 5 of the present invention relates to a mail operation determination step for determining an operation content for a received e-mail and an e-mail received according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination step. It is characterized by having a priority update step for updating priority information for determining the priority.

【0013】

The invention of claim 6 of the present invention is an e-mail program for receiving e-mail, and a priority for storing a priority information for determining a priority for the received e-mail. The priority information stored by the priority storage means is updated according to the storage means, the mail operation determination means for determining the operation content for the received e-mail, and the operation content determined by the mail operation determination means. It is supposed to function as a priority update means to be used.

【0014】

According to the inventions of claims 1, 5 and 6, when the user performs some operation on the received e-mail, the operation content is determined, and the same sender will be used in the future according to the operation content. When an email is received by (or a combination of sender and subject), the priority information for determining the priority of this email is updated. Generally, a user operates differently for a high-priority e-mail having important contents for the user and an unnecessary low-priority e-mail. By storing and updating priority information based on the contents of such operations that the user naturally performs, it is special not only for the sender (sender) of the e-mail but also for the user on the receiving side of the e-mail. Does not require any work.

【0015】

According to the invention of claim 2, for the received e-mail, the priority information recorded and updated based on the e-mail received from the same sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject) in the past is also included. The priority is determined, and a list of received e-mails is displayed in the order of arrangement based on the priority. Therefore, it is possible to easily identify important high-priority e-mails and low-priority e-mails from the list display, and it is a waste of time to overlook important e-mails or check the contents of unnecessary e-mails. You can avoid spending time.

【0016】

According to the invention of claim 3, the priority information can be updated not only from the operation contents for the received e-mail but also by a special e-mail for instructing the update of the priority information. ..

【0017】

According to the invention of claim 4, an e-mail corresponding to a predetermined condition determined based on the priority information, for example, a sender who has never received an e-mail in which the priority information is not stored. In the case of an e-mail from (or a combination of sender and subject) or a specific e-mail specified in advance, this e-mail may be an unjust e-mail used to spread a computer virus. By imposing operational restrictions such as opening emails and preventing attachments from being executed, damage caused by unjustified emails can be avoided.

【0018】

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, terminals 2 (2-1 to 2-4) (e-mail devices) and servers 6 are connected via network 4 including the Internet, public network, LAN, etc., and the mail servers (e-mail servers) used by each are connected. You can send and receive e-mails to and from each other through (not shown). Terminals 2-1 to 2-4 are composed of a personal computer, a PDA (personal digital assistant) which is a mobile terminal, etc., and read a program recorded on various recording media, and the operation is controlled by this program. The server 6 provides the terminal 2 with a service for updating the function of the e-mail function realized by the e-mail program. For example, an e-mail having a predetermined content (priority DB update mail described later) ) To provide the service.

【0019】

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a terminal 2 that realizes an e-mail device. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 2 includes a CPU 10, a display device 12, an input device 14, a communication device 16, and a storage device 18.

【0020】

The CPU 10 controls the entire terminal 2. For example, it activates an e-mail program stored in the storage device 18 according to the operation content input from the input device 14, and composes an e-mail, sends / receives an e-mail, etc. according to this program. Perform the email function of. According to the e-mail program in the present embodiment, the same sender (the same sender () is based on the user's operation contents for the received e-mail, for example, "opened the e-mail", "read the e-mail to the end", "forwarded the e-mail", etc. Alternatively, you can register priority information for emails from (sender and subject pairs). When an e-mail is received, the arrangement order when displaying the received e-mails in a list can be determined based on the priority information registered earlier.

【0021】

The display device 12 displays a screen corresponding to the execution of various processes, and when the e-mail program is executed, the e-mail creation screen and the sender (sender's e-mail address) of the received e-mail are displayed. , The list display screen consisting of the subject, the date and time of reception, etc., and the mail content display screen that displays the mail content of the e-mail selected from the list display screen are displayed. The input device 14 is composed of a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and inputs instructions and data that define the operation of the terminal 2. The communication device 16 communicates with another terminal 2 and the server 6 via the network 4 under the control of the CPU 10.

【0022】

The storage device 18 is composed of a memory such as ROM and RAM, a storage device such as a hard disk device, a system program that controls the entire terminal 2, a processing program corresponding to various functions, and various data as needed. It will be remembered. The processing program includes the e-mail program 18a for realizing the e-mail function, and the data stored with the execution of the e-mail program 18a is used to determine the priority for the received e-mail. Priority database (DB) 18b where priority information is registered, newly received e-mail 18c through network 4, and the sender (or sender and subject) of the received e-mails are classified as the first e-mails. There are the first received mail 18d, and other received mail 18e excluding the first received mail 18d among the received e-mails.

【0023】

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by executing an e-mail program in the system configuration shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 2 (e-mail device) has a priority determination unit 20 (priority DB update mail determination unit 20a), a priority database (DB) 22, a sorting unit 24, and a mail storage unit 26. The functions of the mail operation unit 28, the mail operation determination unit 30, the priority DB update unit 32, and the mail display unit 34 are provided.

【0024】

The priority determination unit 20 preferentially displays received e-mails when displaying a list of received e-mails based on the priority information (details will be described later) stored in the priority DB 22. Determine the priority for determining the sequence order to be used. In addition, the priority determination unit 20 is the first sender in which an e-mail corresponding to a predetermined condition, for example, priority information corresponding to priority DB22 is not registered based on the priority information stored in priority DB22. Determine if it is an email received from (or a combination of sender and subject) or a specific email specified in advance. The priority DB update mail discriminating unit 20a is an e-mail for instructing the update of the priority information stored in the priority DB22, which is different from the general one, for the received e-mail, that is, the priority sent from the server 6. Determines the receipt of DB update mail.

【0025】

Priority DB22 registers priority information for determining the priority of the arrangement order when displaying a list of received e-mails, and the operation contents and server of the user for the e-mails received in the past. Priority information according to the priority DB update mail received from 6 is registered.

【0026】

The sorting unit 24 sorts the received e-mails in the arrangement order when displaying a list of the received e-mails based on the priority determined by the priority determination unit 20, and the received e-mails are sent to the mail storage unit 26. To memorize.

【0027】

The mail storage unit 26 stores received e-mails in the storage device 18, and is sorted and stored by the sorting unit 24 in the order of arrangement according to the priority determined by the priority determining unit 20. The mail storage unit 26 is the first to store the e-mail received from the first sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject) whose priority information is not registered in the priority DB 22 determined by the priority determination unit 20. A received mail storage unit 26a (first received mail 18d) and a received mail storage unit 26b (received mail 18e) for storing other e-mails other than the e-mail to be stored in the received mail storage unit 26a for the first time are provided. There is.

【0028】

The mail operation unit 28 executes various operations in response to an instruction from the user for the e-mail stored in the mail storage unit 26. The mail operation unit 28 is designated in advance as an e-mail determined by the priority determination unit 20 to meet a predetermined condition, that is, an e-mail stored in the received mail storage unit 26a for the first time or stored in the received mail storage unit 26b. For operations on the e-mail corresponding to a specific e-mail, the processing contents that can be executed are restricted by the instruction from the user.

【0029】

The mail operation determination unit 30 determines the operation content of the e-mail stored in the mail storage unit 26 by the mail operation unit 28.

【0030】

The priority DB update unit 32 updates the priority information stored in the priority DB 22 according to the operation content determined by the mail operation determination unit 30.

【0031】

Further, the priority DB update unit 32 updates the priority information stored in the priority DB 22 according to the e-mail (priority DB update mail) determined by the priority DB update mail determination unit 20a.

【0032】

The mail display unit 34 displays a list of e-mails stored in the mail storage unit 26 (first received mail storage unit 26a, received mail storage unit 26b) in the arrangement order (priority) sorted by the sorting unit 24. Let me.

【0033】

Next, the details of the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 will be described with reference to FIG. The priority information is registered for each sender of the received e-mail or a set of the sender and the subject, and the operation content by the user for the e-mail received in the past and the priority DB update mail received from the server 6. It is registered according to such.

【0034】

In the example of priority information shown in FIG. 4, each information of priority, highest priority designation, and rejection designation (rank designation, deletion designation) is registered in association with the sender or the pair of sender and subject. Priority is represented by points and rank. The points are calculated according to the operation contents by the user for the e-mails received in the past. Details of the calculation of points will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In addition, the rank is determined based on the points and the highest priority designation and the rejection designation, and indicates the relative priority with respect to the combination of the subject and other senders. For example, ranks S, AAA, AA, A, BBB, ... C, which indicate the highest priority, are expressed in descending order of priority. As for the rank, for example, when the threshold value predetermined for each rank is exceeded for the points, the corresponding rank is set.

【0035】

Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The CPU 10 of the terminal 2 executes the process shown in the flowchart by executing the e-mail program 18a.

【0036】

In the terminal 2 of the present embodiment, from the same sender (or a set of sender and subject) according to a general operation performed by the user for the received e-mail (hereinafter referred to as the received e-mail). You can register the priority for e-mail. Usually, the user will use this if the email received is important, for example, an email from a particular sender or an email with a subject indicating that it is an important email. What if you perform various operations such as opening an e-mail, checking the contents, and sending a reply e-mail, but it is an unnecessary e-mail (e-mail newsletter or direct mail)? Often do not operate. Terminal 2 (e-mail program) registers the priority information according to the natural operation contents for the e-mail received by the user, and then sends the e-mail of the same sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject). When it is received, it is determined whether or not it is an important e-mail based on the priority information registered earlier, and the received e-mails are displayed in a list in the order of arrangement according to the importance.

【0037】

First, the registration of priority information in the priority DB 22 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a process of updating the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 in response to an operation on the received e-mail.

【0038】

When the terminal 2 receives an e-mail, it stores the e-mail in the mail storage unit 26 (for the first time, the received mail storage unit 26a and the received mail storage unit 26b). For the e-mail stored in the mail storage unit 26, the user can perform various operations provided in the e-mail function by using the input device 14. The mail display unit 34 displays a list display screen of received e-mails including a sender, a subject, and a received date and time for the e-mails stored in the mail storage unit 26 in response to an instruction from the user input from the input device 14. Displayed on the device 12. The list display of received e-mails sorted according to the priority information will be described later.

【0039】

The mail operation unit 28 executes processing according to the operation input from the input device 14 for the received e-mail arbitrarily selected from the list display of the received e-mails. In the example shown in the flowchart of Fig. 5, "Opened (opened) mail", "Readed mail to the end", "Forwarded mail", "Replyed to mail", "There is no CC (Carbon Copy) in the mail destination" "There is BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) in the mail address" "Reply within 5 minutes after opening the mail" is targeted for each operation.

【0040】

For example, when a specific e-mail is selected from the list display of received e-mails and an instruction to open the e-mail is instructed (step B1), the mail operation unit 28 displays a screen for displaying the contents of the selected e-mail. Display at. At this time, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines that the operation for opening the mail has been performed (step B1). The priority DB update unit 32 raises the priority points registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail according to the determination by the mail operation determination unit 30 (step B2). Here, one point of priority is added.

【0041】

Further, when there is an input operation in which the screen for displaying the mail contents scrolls for the opened e-mail, that is, when an operation for reading the mail contents is performed to the end, the mail operation determination unit 30 sends the mail. Is determined to have been read to the end (step B3). The priority DB update unit 32 raises the priority points registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail in the same manner as described above according to the determination by the mail operation determination unit 30 (step B4). Here, one point of priority is added in the same way.

【0042】

Similarly, when there is an input operation for forwarding the mail to the received e-mail and replying to the mail, the mail operation unit 28 executes the process according to the input operation. The mail operation determination unit 30 determines the operation content executed by the mail operation unit 28 (steps B5 and B6), and the priority DB update unit 32 determines this e-mail according to the determination by the mail operation determination unit 30. Priority for Priority Increases the points of priority registered in DB22 (addition of 1 point) (steps B6 and B8).

【0043】

In addition, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines whether or not CC is set as the mail destination or whether or not BCC is set as the mail destination when the reply mail is created. Judgment is made by referring to the mail header information of (steps B9 and B11). If it is determined that CC is not set for the mail destination, the priority DB updater 32 raises the priority points registered in the priority DB 22 for this mail (addition of 1 point) (step B10). .. If it is determined that BCC is set as the mail destination, the priority DB update unit 32 raises the priority points registered in the priority DB 22 for this mail (addition of 1 point) (step). B12).

【0044】

Further, the mail operation determination unit 30 determines whether or not the time from the opening of the received e-mail to the execution of the reply is within 5 minutes when the e-mail is replied (step B13). When the mail operation determination unit 30 determines that the received e-mail has been replied within 5 minutes, the priority DB update unit 32 has the priority registered in the priority DB 22 for this e-mail. Increase the points of the degree (add 2 points) (step B14).

【0045】

In this way, the priority DB update unit 32 determines and updates the priority of the corresponding received e-mail registered in the priority DB 22 based on the priority points calculated according to each operation content (step B15). ..

【0046】

In this way, the priority points are updated according to the operation contents performed by the user for the received e-mail. When the received e-mail is important, the user opens the e-mail, checks the contents of the e-mail until the end, forwards the e-mail to another, or replies the e-mail to the sender. Furthermore, if the received e-mail has confidential content, a reply e-mail is sent only to a specific person in response to the received e-mail, that is, the e-mail is replied without adding CC to the e-mail destination. In addition, when it is necessary to conceal the fact that the e-mail was sent to multiple recipients but the broadcast was sent, BCC is added to the e-mail destination and the e-mail is replied. Furthermore, if the email is important such that a reply email must be sent immediately after opening the email, the reply email is sent within a short period of time, for example, within five minutes. In this way, the tendency of whether the received e-mail is important to the user is grasped from the operation contents for the received e-mail of the user, and the sender of the received e-mail (or the combination of the sender and the subject) responds accordingly. You can determine the priority for email.

【0047】

Here, since the priority points are calculated for a plurality of operation contents, for example, even if the received e-mail is opened, the priority depends on what kind of operation the user has performed on the received e-mail after that. Can make a difference. That is, depending on the user, even if it is an unnecessary e-mail, some people open it once, while others delete it without opening it, but the priority is simply determined by whether or not the received e-mail has been opened. By deciding the priority in combination with other operation contents without deciding, the priority point for relatively unnecessary e-mail was lowered, and more operations were performed even for important e-mail. The priority point for email is high.

【0048】

The operation content shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is an example, and priority points can be calculated for other operation contents. In addition, the points to be added for the priority other than the operation of "replying within 5 minutes after opening the mail" are set to 1 point, but the points to be added according to the operation content are increased in multiple stages (for example, 1 to 10 points). It may be set to the range of). Further, the user may arbitrarily set in advance how many points are to be added to which operation content. In this case, a higher score may be set for the operation content that the user often performs for important e-mail. This makes it possible to set a priority for the received e-mail according to the importance intended by the user.

【0049】

Further, in the above description, the case where the priority points are added according to the operation content performed by the user is shown, but the points may be subtracted for the predetermined operation content. For example, if an operation is performed to delete a received e-mail without opening it, then points are subtracted so that the e-mail received from the same sender has a lower priority. In this case, in the same manner as in the case of addition described above, the points for subtracting the priority points may be set in multiple stages according to the processing content, and the number of points to be subtracted depending on the operation content may be set. Whether or not to do so may be arbitrarily set by the user.

【0050】

Further, when a predetermined operation content is executed, a priority is added to the operation content, but when a specific operation content is executed in combination, a predetermined point is added or subtracted. Calculation method is also possible.

【0051】

Also, in the above example, the priority is updated depending on whether CC is set or BCC is set for the destination set in the reply mail, but the mail header information of the received mail is referred to. Therefore, the priority may be updated depending on whether CC or BCC is set as the destination of the received e-mail.

【0052】

Next, the information of the highest priority designation and the rejection designation (rank designation, deletion designation) registered in the priority DB 22 will be described. The information of the highest priority designation shall be set when it is specified by the user or when the priority points calculated according to the operation contents satisfy the predetermined conditions. In the case of setting specified by the user, the sender or the combination of the sender and the subject, which is the highest priority target, is specified. The priority DB update unit 32 registers the corresponding sender or the set of the sender and the subject in the priority DB 22 according to the designated input from the input device 14, and sets that it is the highest priority designation. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the highest priority designation is set for the sender "" (no subject), and the priority rank is set to S accordingly. In addition, in the case of setting by priority points, the priority DB update unit 32 indicates that the points calculated for the sender or the combination of the sender and the subject registered in the priority DB 22 are the same as those of other senders or senders. When there is a difference between the calculated points for the subject set and a predetermined value that exceeds a predetermined value, the highest priority is set for the corresponding sender or the sender and subject set.

【0053】

The information of the refusal specification (rank specification, deletion specification) shall be set when specified by the user or when the priority DB update mail from the server 6 is received. In the case of setting specified by the user, it shall be performed in the same manner as in the case of the highest priority specification. In the case of setting by priority DB update mail, the sender or the set of sender and subject is specified in the priority DB update mail. The priority DB update unit 32 registers the corresponding sender or the set of the sender and the subject in the priority DB 22 according to the designation by the priority DB update mail, and sets that the priority DB update is a rejection designation. In the example shown in Fig. 4, a refusal designation (rank designation) is set for the sender " × ×" (no subject), and along with this, a predetermined rank C for the rejection designation is set. Indicates that it has been set. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 4, it is shown that the rejection designation (deletion designation) is set for the set of the sender " × ×" and the subject "XX ". As shown in FIG. 4, the rejection designation includes a rank designation in which the received e-mail is displayed at the lowest rank so as to indicate that it is the lowest priority e-mail in the list display, and a rank designation in which the list is displayed. It is assumed that there is a deletion specification that deletes unconditionally without displaying it. The update of the priority DB 22 by the priority DB update mail will be described in the flowchart of FIG. 6 (step A3).

【0054】

Next, a processing method for received mail based on the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the update of the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 when the operation for the received e-mail is input.

【0055】

When the e-mail is received (step A1), the priority determination unit 20 determines whether or not the e-mail is the priority DB update mail sent from the server 6 (step A2). Here, in the case of the priority DB update mail, the priority DB update unit 32 updates the priority DB 22 according to the contents set in the priority DB update mail (step A3). In the priority DB update mail, the sender to be updated (or newly registered) or the combination of the sender and the subject can be specified, and the rejection (rank specification or deletion specification) can be specified for this. ..

【0056】

For example, if the server 6 detects an e-mail that may spread a computer virus, specify the sender or subject attached to this e-mail so that the e-mail will not be received by the terminal 2, and this sender or subject. E-mails that fall under the above are specified to be rejected, and the e-mails that are deleted without being opened are specified by the priority DB update mail. In the priority DB 22 shown in FIG. 4, it is shown that the rejection designation (deletion designation) is set for the received e-mail with the sender × × and the subject ×× .

【0057】

On the other hand, if it is not a priority DB update mail (step A2), the priority DB 22 is searched based on the sender and subject of the received mail, and the corresponding one is extracted. If there is a corresponding item here and the refusal specification is set (step A4), the sorting unit 24 deletes the received e-mail so that it will not be opened.

【0058】

If the e-mail is the highest priority target (step A6), the sorting unit 24 sorts the received e-mails so that they are at the highest level and stores them in the received e-mail storage unit 26b (step A7). ..

【0059】

In addition, when the result of searching the priority DB22 based on the sender and subject of the received mail and there is no corresponding one, that is, when the mail is received from the other party for the first time (step A8), the sorting unit 24 determines. The received e-mail is stored in the received e-mail storage unit 26a for the first time (step A9). In other words, if the sender of the e-mail is unknown, it may be an e-mail that may cause harm such as spreading a computer virus to the terminal 2, so handle it separately from other received e-mails. For the first time, it is stored in the received mail storage unit 26a. The operation by the mail operation unit 28 is restricted for the e-mail stored in the received mail storage unit 26a for the first time.

【0060】

For example, some computer viruses that use e-mail can be infected by executing the attached file. In general e-mail operations, it usually has a very convenient function such as opening an attached file automatically when the e-mail is opened (starting and executing an application program corresponding to the attached file). There is something. In the terminal 2 (e-mail program) of the present embodiment, for an e-mail whose sender is unknown, the attached file is opened even if the e-mail is opened by the user and the attached file is automatically opened. Restrict operations from being performed automatically. This prevents you from being infected with a computer virus by inadvertent operation.

【0061】

When the user instructs the mail display unit 34 to execute the list display of received e-mails (step A10), the mail display unit 34 receives the received e-mails stored in the mail storage unit 26 in the order of arrangement according to the priority registered in the priority DB 22. Display the mail in a list on the display device 12.

【0062】

FIG. 7 shows an example of displaying a list of received e-mails. As shown in Fig. 7, in the list display, the sender name, subject, priority rank determined based on the priority DB22, reception date and time, etc. are associated and displayed for each received e-mail. There is. In the list display, the priority ranks are arranged and displayed in order from the highest received e-mail. Therefore, if the contents of the e-mails are confirmed from the higher ranks according to the order of arrangement, it is possible to prevent oversight of important e-mails, and it is not wasted time to confirm the contents of unnecessary e-mails. In addition, since the priority rank is added and displayed, the user can refer to the rank and determine to what level the e-mail is to be confirmed.

【0063】

In the above description, when the priority DB22 is referred to for the received e-mail, the sender or the sender registered in the priority DB22 based on the sender of the received e-mail or the combination of the sender and the subject. Although it is said that the corresponding priority information is obtained by searching for the combination of the subject and the subject, the priority information may be registered in the priority DB 22 only for the sender or only the subject. In this case, for the received e-mail, only the sender registered in the priority DB22 or only the subject is searched. In this way, by registering the priority information in the priority DB 22 using the sender and the subject, for example, all the e-mails from a specific sender can be determined as a predetermined priority, or the e-mails from the same sender can be determined. Even so, it can be determined as different priorities depending on the subject.

【0064】

Further, in the above description, it is stated that the priority information stored in the priority DB 22 can be updated by the priority DB update mail sent from the server 6, but the priority DB update mail discriminating unit 20a can discriminate. If so, the priority information may be updated not only by the server 6 but also by the priority DB update mail sent from the other terminal 2.

【0065】

Further, in the above-mentioned explanation, the e-mail whose operation by the mail operation unit 28 is restricted is the e-mail received from the other party for the first time (the e-mail whose sender is unknown), but is specified in advance. Can target email. For example, if the server 6 notifies by the priority DB update mail that the operation should be restricted for the e-mail with a specific subject, the specified subject is registered in the priority DB22 and received. Determine if the email is relevant based on the subject of the email. Here, when it is determined that the e-mail corresponds to the e-mail, the operation is restricted in the same manner as in the case of the e-mail whose sender is unknown.

【0066】

In this way, when the user performs some operation on the received e-mail, the operation content is determined, and the e-mail by the same sender (or the combination of the sender and the subject) is determined according to the operation content in the future. When an email is received, priority information for determining the priority for this email is registered in the priority DB22. Then, for the received e-mail, the priority is determined based on the priority information previously registered in the priority DB22, and the list of received e-mails is displayed according to this priority. Therefore, the user can automatically prioritize the received e-mail without requiring any special work before checking the contents of the e-mail. Furthermore, the sender (sender) of the e-mail does not need any special work to specify the priority of the e-mail.

【0067】

The method described in the above-described embodiment can be used as a program that can be executed by a computer on a recording medium such as a magnetic disk (flexible disk, hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD, etc.), or a semiconductor memory. It can be written and provided to various devices. It is also possible to transmit it through a communication medium and provide it to various devices. The computer that realizes this device reads the program recorded on the recording medium or receives the program via the communication medium, and the operation is controlled by this program to execute the above-described processing.

【0068】

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified at the implementation stage without departing from the gist thereof. Further, the embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by an appropriate combination of a plurality of disclosed constituent requirements. For example, if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment and the effect is obtained, the configuration in which the constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

【0069】

[Effect of the invention]

As described in detail above, according to claims 1 and 5 of the present invention, when any operation is performed on the received e-mail, the operation content is determined, and the same operation will be performed in the future according to the operation content. When an email is received by the sender (or a combination of sender and subject), the priority information for determining the priority of this email is updated, so before checking the content of the received email. The priority of received e-mail can be automatically determined without requiring any special work by the user.

【0070】

Further, according to claim 2 of the present invention, the priority of the received e-mail is determined based on the priority information, and a list of the received e-mails is displayed in the order of arrangement based on the priority. Therefore, it is possible to easily identify important high-priority e-mails and low-priority e-mails from the list display, and it is useless to overlook important e-mails or check the contents of unnecessary e-mails. You can avoid spending a lot of time.

【0071】

Further, according to claim 3 of the present invention, the priority information can be updated not only from the operation content for the received e-mail but also by a special e-mail for instructing the update of the priority information. ..

【0072】

Further, according to claim 4 of the present invention, in the case of an e-mail that meets a predetermined condition determined based on priority information, it is unreasonable to impose operation restrictions on the e-mail. It is possible to avoid damage caused by e-mail.

[Simple explanation of drawings]

[Figure 1]

The block diagram which shows the system configuration which concerns on this Embodiment.

[Figure 2]

A block diagram showing a system configuration of a terminal 2 that realizes an e-mail device.

[Fig. 3]

A block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by executing an e-mail program.

[Fig. 4]

The figure for demonstrating the detail of the priority information registered in priority DB22.

[Fig. 5]

A flowchart for explaining the process of updating the priority information registered in the priority DB 22 according to the operation for the received e-mail.

[Fig. 6]

A flowchart for explaining the update of the priority information registered in the priority DB22 when an operation for the received e-mail is input.

[Fig. 7]

The figure which shows an example of the list display of received mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 (2-1 ~ 2-4) ... Terminal 4 ... network 6 ... server 10 ... CPU 12 ... Display device 14 ... Input device 16 ... Communication device 18 ... Storage device 18a ... Email program 18b ... Priority DB 20 ... Priority discriminator 20a ... Priority DB update mail discriminator 22 ... Priority DB 24 ... Sorting section 26 ... Email storage 26a ... First time received mail storage 26b ... Received mail storage 28 ... Mail operation unit 30 ... Mail operation discriminator 32 ... Priority DB update section 34 ... Mail display