JP2002049564A - Device and method for generating reply electronic mail and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a generating device for reply electronic mail, etc., which suitably generates reply electronic mail from received electronic mail as automatically as possible with a small user burden. SOLUTION: A reception part 202 of the generating device 201 receives the received electronic mail, a syntax analysis part 203 takes a syntax analysis of the received electronic mail, and a rule storage part 204 previously stores a feature information extraction rule; and an extraction part 205 contrasts the result of the syntax analysis with the stored feature information extraction rule to extract feature information on the received electronic mail, a template storage part 206 previously stores reply templates for the feature information, and a generation part 207 contrasts the extracted feature information with the stored templates to generate reply electronic mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reply e-mail creating apparatus and method suitable for automatically creating a reply e-mail from an outgoing e-mail while minimizing a user's burden as much as possible. The present invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium recording a program to be recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique for automatically creating an electronic mail (reply electronic mail) in response to an electronic mail (outgoing electronic mail) arriving from a customer or the like.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 10-27141 discloses a technique in which a dedicated e-mail creating device is used to set a portion requiring a reply in advance to create a reply e-mail.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-204843 discloses a technique for extracting a predetermined parameter from the text and generating a reply e-mail based on the result of analyzing the subject of the e-mail. ing.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-57066 discloses a technique in which reply examples of past reply e-mails are accumulated, and a reply e-mail is created by appropriately referring to the reply examples.

[0006]

However, these techniques are difficult to use because there are many items to be set by the user, and an appropriate reply e-mail is sent when the title and the text are not directly linked. Cannot be generated,
There is a problem that a reply e-mail cannot be appropriately generated when past answer examples are not accumulated or there are inappropriate answer examples.

For this reason, there is a great demand for a technique for automatically performing the work as much as possible to further reduce the burden on the user.

[0008] There is also a strong demand for a technique that draws the user's attention when predetermined conditions are satisfied, such as when the answer deadline is described in the text.

An object of the present invention is to realize a method for automatically creating a reply e-mail from an outgoing e-mail by minimizing a user's burden as much as possible.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a reply e-mail creating apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a receiving unit, a syntax analyzing unit, a rule storing unit, and an extracting unit. , A template storage unit, and a generation unit.

Here, the receiving unit receives the outgoing e-mail.

On the other hand, the parsing unit parses the received outgoing electronic mail.

Further, the rule storage unit stores in advance a feature information extraction rule.

[0014] The extracting unit extracts the characteristic information of the received outbound electronic mail by comparing the syntax analysis result with the stored characteristic information extraction rule.

On the other hand, the template storage unit stores a reply template for the feature information in advance.

Further, the generation unit generates a reply e-mail by comparing the extracted feature information with the stored template.

According to the present invention, it is possible to extract the characteristic information of an incoming and outgoing e-mail mainly from the result of the syntax analysis of the text and the predetermined characteristic information extraction rule. Can be used to create a reply email. For this reason, if the characteristic information extraction rule and the reply template are provided appropriately in advance by the vendor, the burden on the user can be extremely reduced, and the automatic creation of the original draft of the reply e-mail is managed uniformly. be able to.

Further, the reply e-mail creating apparatus of the present invention further includes a selection input receiving unit and a deleting unit, and can be configured as follows.

That is, when there are a plurality of sentence examples that can be replied to the feature information, the reply template stored in advance for the feature information includes the plurality of sentence examples.

On the other hand, when the generated reply electronic mail includes a plurality of text examples, the selection input receiving unit receives an input for selecting one of them.

Further, the deletion unit deletes an unselected sentence example included in the generated reply e-mail according to the received selection input.

According to the present invention, when there are a plurality of possible answers to the outgoing e-mail, the user can create an appropriate reply e-mail simply by selecting one of the plurality of answer candidates.

In the reply e-mail creating apparatus of the present invention, a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence is stored in advance for the characteristic information indicating the question sentence. Can be configured.

Thus, when the outgoing electronic mail includes a question asking either "yes" or "no", candidates for an answer to the question can be automatically presented to the user.

Also, the reply e-mail creation device of the present invention can be configured to further include a warning unit.

Here, the warning section indicates that the characteristic information extracted from the received outgoing e-mail indicates a reply deadline date and time, and the time from the present time to the reply deadline date is longer than a predetermined time. If it is short, warn you.

According to the present invention, when an urgent reply is required by a reply e-mail, the user can be informed of that fact.

The reply e-mail creation device of the present invention further includes a list display unit, and can be configured as follows.

That is, when there are a plurality of received outgoing e-mails, the list display unit displays these in a list.

Further, the list display section highlights the alerted outgoing e-mail.

Since e-mails are generally displayed in a list,
According to the present invention, it is possible to notify a user of an e-mail that must be answered urgently in a list display.

A method for creating a reply e-mail according to the second aspect of the present invention is configured to include a receiving step, a syntax analyzing step, an extracting step, and a generating step.

Here, in the receiving step, an outgoing electronic mail is received.

On the other hand, in the parsing step, the received outgoing electronic mail is parsed.

Further, in the extracting step, the characteristic information of the received outgoing e-mail is extracted by comparing the result of the syntax analysis with a characteristic information extraction rule stored in advance.

In the generation step, a reply e-mail is generated by comparing the extracted characteristic information with a template stored in advance in association with the characteristic information.

Further, the method for creating a reply e-mail according to the present invention further comprises a selection input receiving step and a deleting step,
It can be configured as follows.

That is, when there are a plurality of sentence examples that can be replied to the feature information, the reply template stored in advance for the feature information includes the plurality of sentence examples.

On the other hand, in the selection input receiving step, when the generated reply e-mail includes a plurality of text examples, an input for selecting one of them is received.

Further, in the deleting step, the unselected sentence example included in the generated reply e-mail is deleted according to the received selection input.

In the method for creating a reply e-mail according to the present invention, a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence is stored in advance for the characteristic information indicating the question sentence. Can be configured.

Further, the method for creating a reply e-mail of the present invention can be configured to further include a warning step.

Here, in the warning step, the characteristic information extracted from the received outgoing e-mail indicates the date and time of reply deadline, and the time from the present to the date and time of reply deadline is longer than a predetermined time. If it is short, warn you.

The method for creating a reply e-mail according to the present invention further includes a list display step, and can be configured as follows.

That is, in the list display step, when there are a plurality of received outgoing e-mails, these are displayed in a list.

Further, in the list display step, the alerted outgoing e-mail is highlighted.

A computer-readable recording medium according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a program that causes a computer to function as a receiving unit, a syntax analyzing unit, a rule storing unit, an extracting unit, a template storing unit, and a generating unit. It is configured to record.

Here, the receiving section receives an outgoing e-mail.

On the other hand, the parsing unit parses the received outgoing electronic mail.

Further, the rule storage section stores the characteristic information extraction rules in advance.

Then, the extracting unit extracts the characteristic information of the received outgoing e-mail by comparing the result of the syntax analysis with the stored characteristic information extraction rule.

On the other hand, the template storage unit stores a reply template for the feature information in advance.

Further, the generation unit generates a reply e-mail by comparing the extracted feature information with the stored template.

Further, the program recorded on the recording medium according to the present invention comprises the following steps:
And it can be comprised so that it may further function as a deletion part as follows.

That is, when there are a plurality of sentence examples that can be replied to the feature information, the reply template stored in advance for the feature information includes the plurality of sentence examples.

On the other hand, when the generated reply electronic mail includes a plurality of text examples, the selection input receiving unit receives an input for selecting one of them.

Further, the deletion unit deletes the unselected sentence examples included in the generated reply electronic mail according to the received selection input.

Further, the program recorded on the recording medium of the present invention can be configured so that the computer functions as follows.

That is, a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence is stored in advance for the characteristic information indicating that the sentence is a question sentence.

The program recorded on the recording medium of the present invention can be configured so that the computer further functions as a warning unit.

Here, the warning section indicates that the characteristic information extracted from the received outgoing e-mail indicates the date and time of reply deadline, and the time from the present time to the date and time of reply deadline is longer than a predetermined time. If it is short, warn you.

Further, the program recorded on the recording medium of the present invention can be configured so that the computer further functions as a list display unit.

Here, when there are a plurality of the received outgoing e-mails, the list display unit displays them in a list.

Further, the list display section highlights the alerted outgoing e-mail.

[0065]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Schematic Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus) FIG. 1 shows a typical information processing apparatus (general-purpose computer, various terminals, portable terminal, portable telephone, game device, etc.) functioning as a reply e-mail creating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a dedicated device (including a dedicated device). Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to this figure.

The information processing apparatus 101 has a CPU (Central
It is controlled by a processing unit (central processing unit) 102. When the information processing apparatus 101 is powered on,
The CPU 102 executes an IPL (Initial Program) stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 103.
Loader (initial program loader).

The IPL is a hard disk (Hard Disk;
HD) 104, FD (Floppy Disk) drive (FDD) 410 mounted on FD, CD-ROM (Compact Disk ROM) drive (CDD) 411 mounted on CD-ROM, etc. This is a program for reading and executing an OS (Operating System) program stored in a medium.

After activating the OS, the CPU 102 operates in accordance with a user's instruction input through the keyboard 105, the mouse 106, etc.
4 executes an application program stored in the hard disk 104 or the like according to the contents of the setting file described in advance.

In a small-scale information processing apparatus such as a portable terminal, an embodiment in which the IPL itself functions as an OS or an application program can be adopted.

The CPU 102 uses a RAM (Random Access Memory) 107 as a temporary work storage area when executing the program. In addition, a register or a cache (not shown) provided in the CPU 102 is used as a temporary work storage area.

In order to report the result to the user or to show the progress of the program along with the execution of the program, the CPU 102
Can display the information on a display device 108 such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube). In the instruction operation using the mouse 106, the cursor displayed on the screen is moved by moving the mouse 106, and the menu item indicated by the cursor can be selected by clicking the mouse 106.

The information processing apparatus 101 is an NIC (Network
Interface 10 such as Interface Card) and modem
9 to exchange electronic mail with a computer communication network such as the Internet. The electronic mail received via the interface 109 is processed, the processed electronic mail is transmitted via the interface 109, the interface 1
09 to execute a program received through the program.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a reply e-mail creating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to this figure.

The creating device 201 includes a receiving unit 202, a syntax analyzing unit 203, a rule storing unit 204, and an extracting unit 205
, A template storage unit 206, a generation unit 207, a selection input reception unit 208, and a deletion unit 209.

Here, the receiving section 202 receives the outgoing e-mail. Therefore, the interface 109 functions as the receiving unit 202. When receiving, SMTP
(SendMail Transfer Protocol) technology, POP (Post O
ffice Protocol) technology and IMAP (Internet)
Message Access Protocol) technology is used. The creating device 201 may be an e-mail server that functions as an SMTP server or a POP / IMAP server,
It may be a user terminal functioning as an OP / IMAP client.

On the other hand, the syntax analysis section 203
Parses the outgoing e-mail received by. Therefore, the CPU 102 functions as the syntax analysis unit 203.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the syntax analysis processing by the syntax analysis unit 203. The syntax analysis process is started when the receiving unit 202 receives the outgoing e-mail. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to this figure.

First, the received outgoing e-mail is separated into a header line and a body (step S301). The header line contains information on the e-mail server that has been used to transmit the outgoing e-mail, information on the e-mail destination (To), date and time of transmission (Date), subject (Subject), and source (From). Is included.

Next, in the e-mail, a wrap or a line feed may be appropriately inserted in consideration of the readability of the recipient, and thus the extra line feed is removed from the text (step S302).

Further, morphological analysis is performed (step S3).
03), the text is decomposed into morpheme strings, and then syntax analysis is performed (step S304). For morphological analysis and parsing,
Various known techniques can be used. As a result, a syntax tree corresponding to the contents of the text is obtained. Syntax analyzer 20
The processing by 3 has been described above.

The rule storage unit 204 stores feature information extraction rules in advance. For example, CD-
An external storage device such as a ROM, FD, or hard disk 104 functions as the rule storage unit 204.

Then, the extracting section 205
3 is compared with the characteristic information extraction rule stored in the rule storage unit 204, and the characteristic information of the e-mail received by the receiving unit 202 is extracted.

Examples of characteristic information extraction rules and their extraction results are shown below.・ If the sentence ends with "Try it?" Or "How do you try it?"
Characteristic information is obtained.・ In the sentence and at the end of the sentence, “(sa)”, “teke”, “ta”
If there is a column of ", I want to ... how?"
If there is a phrase and the sentence is
When the phrase is included, characteristic information of “permission judgment type main sentence” is obtained for the sentence.

On the other hand, the template storage unit 206 stores a reply template for the feature information in advance.
For example, CD-ROM, FD, hard disk 104
An external storage device such as the above functions as the template storage unit 206.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the template storage unit 206.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a template stored in the storage device. 1
One reply template is associated with a selection condition as a condition for selecting the reply template. FIG. 4 conceptually shows an outline of the reply template, and FIG. 5 shows the reply template in XML (eXtend
2 shows a state in which the description is made in the form of "able markup language".

In the reply template, a place to fill in is specified according to the destination and topic. As described above, since various items can be parameterized, various reply e-mails can be flexibly generated.

Further, the generation unit 207 stores the feature information extracted by the extraction unit 205 in the template storage unit 206.
A reply e-mail is generated according to the template stored in the e-mail. Therefore, the CPU 102 functions as the generation unit 207.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the generation processing executed in generation section 207. This generation processing is started when the feature information is extracted.

First, a reply template satisfying the selection condition for the extracted feature information is stored in the template storage unit 20.
6 (step S601).

Next, referring to the result of the syntax analysis and the result of the morphological analysis of the sentence corresponding to the feature information, the filling portion of the reply template is filled (step S602).

As a result, a reply e-mail is generated, which is presented to the user (step S603).
This processing ends.

Note that the reply template may include a plurality of reply text candidates. For example, there are two sentence candidates for the above “permission judgment type main sentence”: a sentence candidate when permitting, and a sentence candidate when not permitting. These are both stored as reply templates.

In such a case, the user needs to select one of a plurality of candidates.

When the generated reply electronic mail includes a plurality of text examples, the selection input receiving unit 208 receives an input for selecting one of them. Therefore, the display device 108, the mouse 106, and the keyboard 105 function as the selection input receiving unit 208.

FIG. 7 is a display example of a reply electronic mail when there are a plurality of such candidates. The user selects one of the candidates in the reply e-mail displayed in this manner.

Further, deleting section 209 deletes the unselected sentence example included in the generated reply e-mail by the accepted selection input. Therefore, CPU1
02 functions as the deletion unit 209.

In this way, it is possible to automatically generate a draft when the user creates a reply e-mail, and to easily edit the draft.

It is desirable that the template storage unit 206 previously stores a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence with respect to the characteristic information indicating the question sentence.

Thus, when the outgoing e-mail includes a question asking either "yes" or "no", candidates for an answer to the question can be automatically presented to the user.

For example, if the outgoing e-mail contains "Do you want to participate in the conference?", Two candidates "Yes. I will participate." And "No. I will not participate." Can be generated.

When such a sentence is transformed, it is possible to describe in the reply template which morpheme or phrase of the original declarative sentence is quoted and which is not quoted.
Further, a plurality of candidates can be prepared.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the morphological analysis and the parse from the morpheme are performed by the syntactic analysis unit 203. However, depending on the type of feature information extracted by the extraction unit 205, high-speed processing can be achieved by using simple text pattern matching rather than by using general natural language analysis such as morphological analysis and syntax analysis. In some cases, this can be achieved.

In such a case, syntax analysis may be performed by collating a given pattern of the incoming and outgoing electronic mail with a predetermined pattern. An embodiment using such text pattern matching is also included in the scope of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a pattern to be collated is prepared and stored in advance, and the pattern is sequentially taken out and collated with the text of the outgoing e-mail. In addition, the result of the collation indicates a partial syntax of the text of the outgoing e-mail.

By preparing each pattern in association with the feature information to be extracted, if the syntax of the portion that succeeds in pattern matching can be obtained, the necessary syntax can be obtained even if the syntax of other portions cannot be obtained. Feature information can be extracted.

(Second Embodiment) Depending on the outgoing e-mail, a reply e-mail must be urgently sent in some cases. The present embodiment corresponds to such a case. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a reply e-mail creating apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The creation apparatus 201 according to the present embodiment has almost the same configuration as that of the above-described embodiment.
1 and a list display unit 802.

[0109] The warning unit 801 indicates that the characteristic information extracted from the received outgoing e-mail indicates the reply deadline date and time. Warning.

For the warning, a list display unit 802 for displaying a list of received outgoing e-mails is used. That is, a warning is issued by highlighting an outgoing e-mail requiring a warning.

The rule storage unit 204 stores rules for extracting time and date information as feature information. Some of such rules extract, for example, syntax elements such as “in this month (in)”, “until this weekend (in)”, and “urgent (in)”.

FIG. 9 shows a warning section 801 and a list display section 802.
5 is a flowchart showing a flow of a warning process executed by the process shown in FIG. The warning process is started when the extraction unit 205 extracts the date and time information. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to this figure.

First, the expiration date and time is converted from a relative expression to an absolute expression by referring to the extracted expiration date and time information and the results of morphological analysis and syntax analysis of the corresponding sentence (step S901). . For example, if the current date is August 5, 2000, and "during the current month" is extracted,
This is converted to “expiration date and time, August 31, 2000”.

Next, the difference between the converted date and time and the current date and time is determined (step S902).

It is determined whether or not the difference is shorter than a predetermined date and time (it is desirable that the user can appropriately set the difference) (step S903), and if it is shorter (step S903;
Yes), the display of the e-mail displayed on the list display unit 802 is changed to a highlighted display (step S904),
This processing ends.

If the expiration date and time has not yet approached (step S903; No), the display of the e-mail is kept as the normal display (step S905), and this processing ends.

The following can be considered as a method of highlighting.・ Change the font, such as thickening the characters. -Change the color and brightness, or underline and display.・ E-mail to be emphasized is displayed at the top of the screen. -Sort and display in the order of expiration date.

[0118] For the warning, in addition to highlighting in the list display, a warning using an e-mail, a warning using a pop-up window, a notice to that effect is displayed on a bulletin board, and a pager (pager (registered trademark)) is displayed. Various warning methods such as the used warning can also be used.

According to the present invention, it is possible to notify a user of an e-mail that must be answered urgently in a list display.

[0120]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Apparatus and method for creating a reply e-mail suitable for automatically creating a reply e-mail from an outgoing e-mail, with a minimum user burden, and a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for realizing the reply e-mail Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a typical information processing apparatus functioning as a reply electronic mail creation apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a reply e-mail creating apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a syntax analysis process performed by the syntax analysis unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a template stored in a template storage unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a template stored in a template storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a generation process performed by a generation unit.

FIG. 7 is a display example of a reply e-mail when there are a plurality of candidates.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a reply e-mail creation device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a warning process performed by a warning unit and a list display unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 information processing device 102 CPU 103 ROM 104 hard disk 105 keyboard 106 mouse 107 RAM 108 display device 109 interface 110 FD drive 111 CD-ROM drive 201 creation device 202 reception unit 203 syntax analysis unit 204 rule storage unit 205 extraction unit 206 template storage unit 207 generation unit 208 selection input reception unit 209 deletion unit 801 warning unit 802 list display unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Naoyuki Nomura 108-4 Hiraishi-Wakamatsu, Kawauchi-cho, Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture Inside the Just System Co., Ltd. (72) Hiroko Ogino 108-4 Hiraishi-Wakamatsu, Kawauchi-machi, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan In company just system

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A receiving unit that receives an outgoing e-mail, a parsing unit that parses the received outgoing e-mail, a rule storage unit that stores feature information extraction rules in advance, and a result of the parsing. An extraction unit that extracts the characteristic information of the received outgoing / received e-mail in comparison with the stored characteristic information extraction rule; a template storage unit that stores a reply template for the characteristic information in advance; A generating unit for generating a reply e-mail by comparing the characteristic information with the stored template. 2. When there are a plurality of sentence examples that can be replied to the feature information, a reply template stored in advance for the feature information includes the plurality of sentence examples, and the generated reply e-mail includes a plurality of sentence examples. In the case of including, a selection input receiving unit that receives an input to select one of them, a deletion unit that deletes the unselected sentence example that includes the generated reply e-mail by the received selection input, The reply electronic mail creation device according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The reply electronic device according to claim 2, wherein a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence is stored in advance for the characteristic information indicating that the sentence is a question sentence. Email creation device. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic information extracted from the received incoming and outgoing e-mail indicates a reply deadline date and time. If the time from the present time to the reply deadline date is shorter than a predetermined time, the fact is notified. 4. The reply electronic mail creation device according to claim 1, further comprising a warning unit that warns. 5. When there are a plurality of received outgoing e-mails, the system further comprises a list display section for displaying a list of the received outgoing e-mails, wherein the list display section highlights the warned outgoing e-mails. The reply electronic mail creation device according to claim 4. 6. A receiving step of receiving an outgoing e-mail, a parsing step of parsing the received outgoing e-mail, and comparing the parsed result with a previously stored feature information extraction rule. An extracting step of extracting characteristic information of the received outgoing e-mail; and a generating step of generating a reply e-mail by comparing the extracted characteristic information with a template stored in advance in association with the characteristic information. And a method for creating a reply e-mail. 7. When there are a plurality of sentence examples that can reply to the feature information, the reply template stored in advance for the feature information includes the plurality of sentence examples, and the generated reply e-mail includes a plurality of sentence examples. In the case of including, a selection input receiving step of receiving an input to select any of these, and a deletion step of deleting the unselected sentence example including the generated reply e-mail by the received selection input, 7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:
How to create a reply email as described in. 8. A reply electronic device according to claim 7, wherein a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence is stored in advance for the characteristic information indicating that the sentence is a question sentence. How to compose an email. 9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic information extracted from the received outgoing e-mail indicates a date and time of reply deadline. If the time from the present time to the date and time of reply is shorter than a predetermined time, this fact is notified. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, further comprising a warning step of giving a warning. 10. When there are a plurality of received outgoing e-mails, the method further comprises a list displaying step of displaying a list of the received outgoing e-mails, wherein the alerted outgoing e-mail is highlighted in the list displaying step. The method of creating a reply e-mail according to claim 9. 11. A computer, comprising: a receiving unit that receives an outgoing e-mail; a parsing unit that parses the received outgoing e-mail; a rule storage unit that stores feature information extraction rules in advance; An extraction unit that extracts the characteristic information of the received outgoing / received e-mail in comparison with the stored characteristic information extraction rule, a template storage unit that stores a reply template for the characteristic information in advance, and the extracted A computer-readable recording medium that records a program that causes feature information to function as a generating unit that generates a reply e-mail by comparing the template with the stored template. 12. The program causes the computer to function such that, when there are a plurality of sentence examples that can be returned to the characteristic information, a reply template stored in advance for the characteristic information includes the plurality of sentence examples. In the case where the generated reply e-mail includes a plurality of text examples, a selection input receiving unit that receives an input for selecting any of the sentence examples, and the generated reply e-mail is included by the received selection input. The recording medium according to claim 11, further comprising a deletion unit that deletes a sentence example that has not been selected. 13. The program causes the computer to store, in advance, a reply template for generating a declarative sentence and a negative sentence for the question sentence in response to characteristic information indicating the question sentence. The recording medium according to claim 12, wherein: 14. The program according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic information extracted from the received outgoing e-mail indicates a reply deadline date and time, and a time period from the present time to the reply deadline date is a predetermined time. 14. The recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the recording medium further functions as a warning unit that warns when the length is shorter. 15. The program further causes the computer to function as a list display unit for displaying a list of the received outgoing electronic mails when there are a plurality of the received outgoing electronic mails, wherein the list display unit displays the received outgoing electronic mails. The recording medium according to claim 14, wherein the mail is highlighted.