JP2005165870A - E-mail client program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To raise data retrieval speed by reducing the amount of the data related to a mail client including an E-mail concerning the mail client to be used when the E-mail is used. <P>SOLUTION: Data in a setting folder for storing setting information required for processing an E-mail client program is divided into fixed length data, an unfixed length data length, and unfixed length data. The divided data in the setting folder are arranged in order of the fixed length data, the unfixed length data length, and the unfixed length data. The whole data length of the setting folder is made to be a prescribed data length. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail client technique used when electronic mail is used in a computer.

In recent years, various methods have been proposed for so-called e-mail clients that perform processing related to transmission / reception of e-mails in computers.
As a prior art of an e-mail client application related to the present invention, for example, there is a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 below.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-164127

  By the way, the conventional e-mail client application has a problem that it takes time to search for data such as an e-mail text. Further, the conventional e-mail client application has a problem that the amount of data increases when the data is stored in a hard disk storage device of a computer.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of data related to a mail client including e-mail and to increase the search speed of this data in a mail client used when using e-mail. It is to provide technology to improve.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following means.
That is, the present invention separates the data in the setting folder storing the setting information necessary for processing of the e-mail client program into fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data, and the classified The computer executes the steps of arranging the data in the setting folder in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data, and setting the data length of the entire setting folder to a predetermined data length. I made it.

  In the present invention, the data structure of the setting folder that affects the processing speed of the program of the e-mail client application is arranged so that the computing time of the computer is reduced.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique for reducing the amount of data related to a mail client including an electronic mail and improving the search speed of the data in the mail client used when using the electronic mail.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a step of separating data in a setting folder for storing setting information necessary for processing of an e-mail client program into fixed-length data, indefinite-length data length, and indefinite-length data; The computer executes the steps of arranging the data in the setting folder in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data, and making the folder structure of the entire setting folder a predetermined folder structure. It may be.

Further, the present invention may further execute a step of making the structure of the data folder in the storage means of the computer correspond to the structure of the mail folder storing the e-mail text.

  According to the present invention, since the data structure in the storage means of the actual computer matches the data structure in the mail client application, the amount of data related to the mail client including e-mail can be reduced, and the search speed of this data can be reduced. The technology which improves can be provided.

  The present invention also includes a step of searching for an email text stored in the mail folder for each destination email address registered in advance, and a step of outputting subject information of the email text for each destination email address. And may be further executed.

  In this way, according to the present invention, the user-desired electronic mail text can be easily searched.

  Further, the present invention may further execute a step of generating a display attribute of a folder generated by the program into a different attribute for each hierarchy of the folder.

  The present invention also includes a step of generating a backup folder for each email folder for the data of the email body stored in the email folder, and when the email folder is corrupted, the email folder with the corrupted data A step of recovering the mail folder from the backup file may be further executed.

  In this way, according to the present invention, it is possible to recover only the folder in which the data is damaged among the plurality of folders storing the electronic mail text.

  Furthermore, the present invention may further execute a step of compressing the mail folder according to the reference frequency of the stored e-mail text.

  In the present invention, an electronic mail text that is unlikely to be referred to is compressed according to the usage frequency of the user (reference frequency of the mail text).

  Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique for reducing the amount of data related to a mail client including an e-mail and improving the search speed of this data while considering user convenience.

  Note that the present invention may be a program for realizing any of the above functions. In the present invention, such a program may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. Further, the present invention may be an apparatus that realizes any of the functions described above. Furthermore, the present invention may be a method for executing any one of the functions described above.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique for reducing the amount of data related to a mail client including e-mail and improving the search speed of the data in a mail client used when using e-mail. it can.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the following embodiment is an exemplification, and the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment.

In the present embodiment, an example of processing by a computer in which an e-mail client program for executing the e-mail processing method of the present invention is installed (installed) will be described.

<System configuration of this embodiment>
The computer 100 is configured using a personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a dedicated in-vehicle computer. The computer 100 includes, as hardware (not shown), a control device (including a CPU, main memory (RAM, etc.), an input / output unit, an OS, a device driver, etc.), a secondary storage (hard disk, etc.) Network interface device). And the computer 100 implement | achieves the email processing method of this invention by running the email client program of this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a computer that executes the electronic mail processing. The computer 100 includes a data storage control unit 101, a storage unit 102, a mail transmission / reception unit 103, an external communication control unit 104, an address book processing unit 105, and a data backup control unit 106.

  The data storage control unit 101 performs processing related to data storage when storing in the storage unit 102 setting data necessary for various processes of the transmitted / received e-mail body or mail client application other than the e-mail body. At this time, the data storage control unit 101 specifically performs processing such as data structure and storage format at the time of data storage and output, or a compression processing format and compression rate.

  The storage unit 102 is configured by a secondary storage device such as a hard disk device of the computer 100. The storage unit 102 stores the e-mail body (mail data) or data other than the e-mail body (for example, setting data, e-mail transmission / reception history data, address book data, etc.) as described above.

  The mail transmission / reception unit 103 performs processing of transmitting / receiving an electronic mail text to / from a mail server 200 connected via an external network such as the Internet or an internal network such as a LAN. Further, the external communication control unit 104 performs voice and facsimile transmission / reception processing with a telephone / FAX 400 connected via the public telephone network 300.

  The address book processing unit 105 manages the e-mail text and destination information. Further, the address book processing unit 105 manages an address book used by the user when generating an e-mail text based on the destination information. Then, the address book processing unit 105 can output the e-mail body processed by the mail transmitting / receiving unit 103 and the address book data for registering the e-mail destination information in association with each other.

  The data backup control unit 106 performs a backup process in which the body text of the e-mail stored in the storage unit 102 is determined by generating a backup folder for each folder generated in advance in the storage unit 102. Then, the data backup control unit 106 recovers a folder (email folder) that stores an e-mail body whose data has been damaged for some reason, based on backup data generated in advance.

<Data storage structure in this process>
Next, the data storage structure of setting data other than the e-mail body in this process will be described.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a data storage structure of setting data. In FIG. 1, the data storage structure of setting data is divided every 8 bytes. The setting data is stored with the arrangement order determined according to the type of data in the setting data. The data storage order of the setting data is arranged in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data. Among the types of data, fixed-length data is a numerical parameter and data with a fixed number of characters. The indefinite length data is a character string whose length is not determined in advance, and corresponds to data such as a mail title and address, for example. The indefinite length data length stores information that can identify the length of the indefinite length data length.

  As described above, the data storage structure of the setting data of this program stores fixed-length data having a predetermined data length first, and stores indefinite-length data having different lengths later. Compared to the above, a large amount of data can be stored efficiently, so that the speed of data storage and output can be improved.

  In addition, the setting data is stored without gaps between individual data. Then, by storing dummy data in the gap between the data generated by the indefinite length data, the data delimiter can be shaped to a predetermined length. Therefore, the setting data of this program can be stored efficiently.

<Mail folder structure of this program>
Next, the structure of the mail folder for storing the e-mail text according to this program will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a comparison diagram between an example of a general mail folder structure of a conventional mail client application and an example of a mail folder structure of the present program. In a conventional mail client application, a mail folder is divided into various hierarchies by application processing and is generated every time the application is started. That is, the conventional mail folder is generated in a single folder in the storage device of the computer, and when the mail client application opens the data in the folder, the folder is layered by the processing of the application. It was displayed.

  On the other hand, the mail folder of this program is made to correspond to the folder structure in the storage device of the computer. That is, a folder similar to the mail folder used in the mail client application is generated in the storage device of the computer 100 in which the program is installed. For this reason, according to this program, since it is not necessary to generate a mail folder, the calculation amount of the computer 100 is reduced. Therefore, according to this program, the processing speed related to the mail client can be improved.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the storage of the index information in the mail folder of this program. Thus, according to the mail folder of this program, the index structure of the mail and the directory information are simplified by making the folder structure of the application and the folder structure in the actual computer storage device the same hierarchical structure. Therefore, the processing speed related to the mail client can be improved.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the display attribute of the mail folder of this program. The mail folder of this program, when another folder is created in the hierarchy below a certain folder, display attributes (for example, folder display) of the upper folder (parent folder) and lower folder (child folder) Shape, display color, etc.). The mail folder of this program may have different display attributes depending on the status of each folder. By doing in this way, the mail folder of this program can make it easy for the user to identify the status and contents of each folder.

<Address book for this program>
Next, the structure of the address book of this program will be described.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the address book display screen of this program. The address book display screen 10 displays the names 11 of persons registered in the address book. On the address book display screen 10, when the displayed name 11 is selected, registration information of the person, the e-mail text, and information related to the mail are displayed. Referring to FIG. 6, together with the name 12 of the selected person, the e-mail transmission history information 15 including this e-mail folder name 13, e-mail address 14, sent / received date / time and subject information is divided into user desired items. Is displayed. When a subject of a predetermined mail in the transmission history information 15 is selected, the mail text is displayed.

  In this way, by extracting and displaying the destination information registered in the address book and the destination information of the e-mail body, according to this program, the user can register the destination information registered in each address book. The history information of mail transmission / reception can be easily confirmed every time.

<Recovery processing for this program mail folder>
Next, mail folder recovery processing in this program will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining mail folder recovery processing. When the computer 100 is started (S101), the computer 100 performs a process of determining the state at the end of the previous program (S102). At this time, whether or not the computer 100 ended abnormally due to some problem or failure (for example, the power supply was cut off during the program execution or the computer 100 went into a so-called freeze state) at the previous termination. Determine. If the computer 100 ends abnormally, the computer 100 identifies the mail folder that was being processed at that time, and performs recovery processing for the mail folder.

  After the determination, the computer 100 determines whether or not there is a write flag remaining in the folder at the time of abnormal termination (S103). If there is a write flag, the computer 100 determines that the recovery process is necessary for this folder, and performs the reconstruction process (recovery process) of the corresponding box (S104).

  Thereafter, the computer 100 determines whether or not data has been written in the folder (S105). If writing has not been performed (writing is necessary), the computer 100 sets a writing flag for the folder (S106).

  Then, the computer 100 clears the flag after storing the data in the backup mail folder (S107).

  As described above, according to the mail folder recovery process of this program, since it is determined whether or not the recovery process is necessary for each individual folder, a damaged folder can be reliably recovered.

<Automatic compression processing of the mail folder of this program>
Next, the mail folder automatic compression processing of this program will be described. In this process, the presence / absence of compression and the processing content are determined for each e-mail body or mail folder based on predetermined determination criteria.

FIG. 8 is an example of a determination table for mail folder automatic compression processing of this program. In this determination table, for each mail folder (mailbox) name 1, the access frequency to the folder, presence / absence of compression 3, presence / absence 4 of partial compression are recorded. Access frequency 2
In this determination table, for example, if “A” has the highest access frequency and “E” has the lowest frequency, the compression processing is performed for the folder with the low access frequency. The mailbox 4 is moderately accessed, but only partially compresses data in the folder that has a low reference frequency.

  In this way, according to the mail folder automatic compression processing of this program, according to the data reference frequency, the presence / absence of compression and the processing content are determined for each folder or data, while ensuring the convenience of the user, The amount of data in the storage device can be suppressed, and the processing speed of the computer can be improved.

It is a functional block diagram of a computer which performs the electronic mail process which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention mail client program. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the data storage structure of setting data. It is a contrast diagram with an example of the structure of the general mail folder of the conventional mail client application, and an example of the structure of the mail folder of this program. It is the figure which showed storage of the index information in the mail folder of this program. It is a figure which shows an example of the display attribute of the mail folder of this program. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the address book of this program. It is a flowchart explaining the mail folder recovery processing. It is an example of the determination table of the mail folder automatic compression process of this program.

Explanation of symbols

1 mail folder name 2 access frequency 3 presence or absence of compression 4 presence or absence of partial compression 10 address book display screen 11 address book name 12 name 13 mail folder name 14 mail address 15 transmission history information 100 computer 101 data storage control unit 102 storage Unit 103 Mail transmission / reception unit 104 External communication control unit 105 Address book processing unit 106 Data backup control unit 200 Mail server 300 Public telephone network 400 Telephone / FAX

Claims (14)

An email client program to be executed by a computer;
Separating data in a setting folder for storing setting information necessary for processing of the program into fixed-length data, indefinite-length data length, and indefinite-length data;
Arranging the data in the sorted setting folder in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data;
An e-mail client program that causes a computer to execute the step of setting the data length of the entire setting folder to a predetermined data length. An email client program to be executed by a computer;
Separating data in a setting folder for storing setting information necessary for processing of the program into fixed-length data, indefinite-length data length, and indefinite-length data;
Arranging the data in the sorted setting folder in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data;
An e-mail client program that causes a computer to execute the step of changing the folder structure of the entire setting folder to a predetermined folder structure.   The e-mail client program according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a step of causing the structure of the data folder in the storage means of the computer to correspond to the structure of a mail folder storing an e-mail text. Searching the email text stored in the email folder for each pre-registered destination email address;
The e-mail client program according to claim 1, further executing a step of outputting subject information of the e-mail body for each destination e-mail address.   The e-mail client program according to claim 1, further causing a step of generating a display attribute of a folder generated by the program to a different attribute for each hierarchy of the folder. Generating a backup folder for each email folder for the data of the email text stored in the email folder;
6. The e-mail client program according to claim 1, further comprising executing a step of recovering the mail folder from the backup file for each mail folder in which data is damaged when the mail folder is damaged.   The e-mail client program according to claim 1, further causing a step of data compression of the mail folder according to a reference frequency of a stored e-mail text. Separating data in a setting folder for storing setting information necessary for processing of the program into fixed-length data, indefinite-length data length, and indefinite-length data;
Arranging the data in the sorted setting folder in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data;
An e-mail processing method in which a computer executes the step of setting the data length of the entire setting folder to a predetermined data length. Separating data in a setting folder for storing setting information necessary for processing of the program into fixed-length data, indefinite-length data length, and indefinite-length data;
Arranging the data in the sorted setting folder in the order of fixed length data, indefinite length data length, and indefinite length data;
An e-mail processing method in which a computer executes the step of changing the folder structure of the entire setting folder to a predetermined folder structure.   10. The e-mail processing method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of causing the structure of the data folder in the storage means of the computer to correspond to the structure of a mail folder that stores the e-mail text. Searching the email text stored in the email folder for each pre-registered destination email address;
The e-mail processing method according to claim 8, further comprising: outputting subject information of the e-mail body for each destination e-mail address.   12. The e-mail processing method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of generating a display attribute of the folder generated by the program to an attribute that is different for each hierarchy of the folder. Generating a backup folder for each email folder for the data of the email text stored in the email folder;
13. The e-mail processing method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of recovering the mail folder from the backup file for each mail folder whose data is damaged when the mail folder is damaged.   14. The e-mail processing method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of compressing the mail folder according to a reference frequency of a stored e-mail text.

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