JP2022149357A - Electronic mail system, terminal device, electronic mail management device, electronic mail control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To allow a user to visually and efficiently determine an address of an electronic mail.SOLUTION: A transmission destination extraction unit obtains transmission destination address information indicating a transmission destination address of an E-mail. A color arrangement determination unit determines a color for each of one or more pieces of transmission destination address information on the basis of a predetermined rule. A display control unit displays each of the one or more pieces of transmission destination address information with a character string of the color determined by the color arrangement determination unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

The present invention relates to an e-mail system, a terminal device, an e-mail management device, an e-mail control method, and a program.

In recent years, e-mail has become a highly convenient and indispensable tool for communicating with others. On the other hand, for example, when sending an e-mail, even if it is confirmed that the destination e-mail address is correct, there is a problem that the e-mail may be confused with a similar e-mail address and sent erroneously. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes extracting and displaying business card image information associated with an e-mail address when a user performs a transmission operation.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-123076

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 may require time and processing load to acquire business card image information and display it at an e-mail address, for example. Further, for example, the technique described in Patent Document 1 requires a large display area to display an image, which may deteriorate the browsability of e-mail addresses.

Accordingly, it is an object of one aspect of the present invention to visually recognize an e-mail address and to manage it efficiently.

One aspect of the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and includes: a color scheme determining unit that determines colors based on a predetermined rule for each of the above, and one or more pieces of the destination address information are displayed in a character string of the color determined by the color scheme determining unit. and a display control unit that causes the e-mail system to display.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a destination transmission unit that transmits destination address information representing a destination address of an e-mail; and a color scheme receiving unit that receives the color determined based on the color scheme receiving unit, wherein each character string of the one or more destination address information is displayed in the color received by the color scheme receiving unit. .

According to another aspect of the present invention, a destination extraction unit that acquires destination address information representing a destination address of an e-mail; and a color scheme determining unit that determines colors based on the above, wherein each character string of the one or more pieces of destination address information is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme determining unit.

Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, a destination extraction process in which a destination extraction unit acquires destination address information representing a destination address of an e-mail; and a color scheme determination process for determining a color based on a predetermined rule for each of E-mail control method displayed in color.

Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, the computer includes a destination extracting means for acquiring destination address information representing a destination address of an e-mail, and a color scheme determining portion for each of the one or more destination address information. and a color scheme determining means for determining colors based on a predetermined rule, and each character string of the one or more destination address information is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme determining unit. It's a program.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to visually recognize an e-mail address and effectively manage it.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of a terminal device according to the present disclosure; 1 is a schematic diagram of an email system according to the present disclosure; FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the logical configuration of an e-mail management device according to the present disclosure; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a color scheme table according to the present disclosure; FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a logical configuration of an information processing device according to the present disclosure; FIG. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing an example of processing of an email management device according to the present disclosure; FIG. 5 is another flow chart showing an example of processing of the email management device according to the present disclosure; 2 is another schematic block diagram of an email management device according to the present disclosure; FIG. FIG. 5 is another flow chart showing an example of processing of the email management device according to the present disclosure;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of a terminal device 2 according to the present disclosure.
A display G21 is a window of e-mail software (also called a mailer), and the content of the e-mail is displayed. A display G22 is a window that is displayed overlaid on the display G21 when the user performs an operation to send an e-mail. In the display G22, e-mail addresses are displayed for each destination type. Destination types include TO (destination), CC (carbon copy), BCC (blind carbon copy), and sender. E-mail addresses whose destination types are set to TO, CC, and BCC are destinations of e-mails (also referred to as destination addresses).

In the display G22, the character strings A11 to A14 representing the destination addresses are displayed in different colors for each destination address. A character string is composed of alphabets, numbers, symbols, and characters such as kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
For example, character string A11 (c1@cc.com) is light green, and character strings A12 and A13 are red and dark blue, respectively. The character string A14 representing the destination address is a character string in which the address is "b1@bb.co.jp" and the display name in the mailer is "X manager", the character string is purple, and the background color is yellow. is.

In this manner, the terminal device 2 displays the destination addresses in a color corresponding to each destination address. In addition, since the terminal device 2 colors the character string of the destination address, it is possible to display the image in a short time and without processing load as compared with the case of displaying the image of the image file. This allows the user to visually recognize the e-mail address and manage it efficiently.

The user identifies the destination addresses by color, and presses the send button B211 when all the destination addresses are suitable as destinations. In this case, the e-mail of the destination displayed in the display G22 is transmitted as an indication that the user's answer to the confirmation of the correctness of the destination address is "correct". On the other hand, if there is an inappropriate destination address as the destination, or if the information of the e-mail is to be edited, the re-edit button B212 is pressed. In this case, the window of display G22 disappears, and the user can edit the transmission destination and the like in the window of display G21. In this state, when the user performs an operation to send an e-mail, the window of display G22 is displayed again. In this display G22, when the user edits the information in the display 21, the edited information is displayed.
It should be noted that the character strings of the plurality of transmission addresses displayed in the display G22 may have the same color.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an email system S according to the present disclosure.
The e-mail system S comprises an e-mail management device 1 and a terminal device 2 . The e-mail management apparatus 1 is a server, and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a communication module 12, a power supply 13, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 14, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 15, and a HDD (Hard Disk Drive). 16. The terminal device is a personal computer and includes a display 21 and an information processing device 22 . Since the hardware configuration of the information processing device 22 is the same as that of the e-mail management device in FIG. 2, the description thereof will be omitted. In the terminal device 2, the display and the information processing device may be integrated into one housing, or may be separate housings. Also, the terminal device 2 may be a mobile terminal device such as a smart phone or a tablet. In addition, the e-mail management device 1 and the terminal device 2 may have the hardware configuration of a general computer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing the logical configuration of the e-mail management device 1 according to the present disclosure. The e-mail management apparatus 1 includes a coloring section 111, a coloring information registering section 112, a transmission stopping section 113, a destination extracting section 114, a coloring information determining section 115, a display control section 116, a confirmation operation receiving section 117, and a transmission suspension canceling section 118. , a transmission control unit 119 , and a coloration information storage unit 161 . These configurations are realized by temporarily storing programs and data stored in the HDD 16 in the RAM 15 and processing them by the CPU 11 .

The coloring unit 111 changes the color of the character string of the e-mail address displayed on the terminal device 2 to an arbitrary color. This function is also called a "coloring function". The arbitrary color is the color selected by the user or the color automatically selected by the program, and the initial (before change) color is black, for example.
The coloration information registration unit 112 generates coloration information by associating the address information representing the character string with the color information representing the color of the e-mail address colored by the coloration function. The color information is RGB (red, green, blue) values, but may be other information. The color scheme information registration unit 112 registers (adds or updates) the generated color scheme information in the color scheme table (see FIG. 4). This function is also called a "color scheme information registration function".
The color scheme information storage unit 161 stores a color scheme table including color scheme information. This function is also called a "color scheme information saving function".

The transmission stop unit 113 detects emails for which a transmission operation has been performed by the user. When detected, the transmission stop unit 113 temporarily stops the transmission processing of the e-mail. This function is also called a "transmission stop function".
The destination extraction unit 114 extracts a destination address from the e-mail whose transmission process has been temporarily stopped. This function is also called a "destination extraction function".
The coloration information determination unit 115 determines the color for each destination address by extracting color information corresponding to the destination address from the coloration information. This function is also called a "coloration information extraction function".

The display control unit 116 causes the terminal device 2 to display each of the transmission destination addresses of the suspended e-mail in the character string of the color determined by the color scheme information determination unit 115 while the transmission process is stopped (see FIG. 1). ). This function is also called a "color scheme information display function".
After the character string is displayed by the color scheme information display function, the confirmation operation receiving unit 117 waits for the user's response to confirm the correctness of the destination address, and receives the response when the response is received. This function is also called a "confirmation operation receiving function".
The transmission stop canceling unit 118 determines whether or not the correctness confirmation response indicates that the transmission address is “correct”. If the transmission stop canceling unit 118 determines that the transmission address is "correct", it cancels the stop of the transmission process by the transmission stop function. In this case, the e-mail for which the user has performed the sending operation is sent. This function is also referred to as a "transmission stop release function".
When the suspension of the transmission process is released by the transmission suspension release function, the transmission control unit 119 performs the transmission process for the e-mail for which the suspension of the transmission process has been released.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a color scheme table according to this disclosure.
The color scheme table stores color scheme information for each user. In the example of FIG. 4, address information, color information, and other attribute information are associated as color scheme information. Other attribute information can store attribute information other than color.
For example, the coloration information in which the address information of the user "a1@aa.com" is "b1@bb.co.jp" is b1@bb.co.jp among the destination addresses. co. jp (or partial match), the color of the string is purple (RGB values are R: 112, G: 48, B: 160), and the background color of the string is yellow (RGB values are R : 225, G: 225, B: 0).

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the logical configuration of the information processing device 22 according to the present disclosure.
The information processing device 22 includes a coloration selection section 221 , an information transmission section 222 , a coloration information reception section 223 , a destination output section 224 , and a confirmation operation transmission section 225 .

The color scheme selection unit 221 displays each e-mail address on the display 21 so that the user can change or confirm the color of the character string. When the user selects or confirms the color, each e-mail address and the color of the character string are transmitted to the e-mail management device 1 .
The information transmission unit 222 transmits the information of the e-mail to the e-mail management apparatus 1 when the user performs a transmission operation. After that, the e-mail transmission process is temporarily stopped by the transmission stop function of the e-mail management apparatus 1 . The information transmission unit 222 may extract the destination address from the e-mail and transmit the extracted destination address to the e-mail management apparatus 1 .

The color scheme information receiving unit 223 receives the color of the character string from the e-mail management apparatus 1 for each destination address of the e-mail.
The destination output unit 224 causes the display 21 to display the color character string received by the color arrangement information receiving unit 223 for each of the destination addresses of the e-mail whose transmission process is being stopped (see FIG. 1).
The confirmation operation transmission unit 225 transmits the response to the e-mail management apparatus 1 when there is a response from the user to confirm the correctness of the destination address (by pressing the transmission button B211 in FIG. 1, etc.).

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing a processing example of the e-mail management device 1 according to the present disclosure. In this figure, the operation of each part (see FIG. 3) of the e-mail management device 1 will be explained.

(Step S110) When the user performs a transmission operation, the transmission stop unit 113 detects the e-mail for which the transmission operation has been performed. After that, the process of step S111 is performed.
(Step S111) The transmission stop unit 113 temporarily stops the transmission process of the e-mail detected in step S110. After that, the process of step S112 is performed.
(Step S112) The destination extraction unit 114 extracts all destination addresses from the e-mail whose transmission process has been temporarily stopped. The coloration information determining unit 115 determines whether or not each destination address and the coloration information of each destination address are saved by referring to the address information in the coloration table using each of the extracted destination addresses. . The process of step S115 is performed for the destination address for which the coloration information is saved. On the other hand, the process of step S113 is performed for the destination addresses for which the color scheme information is not saved.

(Step S113) The coloring unit 111 causes the terminal device 2 to display the character string for the destination address for which the coloring information is not saved. The color arrangement unit 111 changes the color by allowing the user to select the color of the character string. The color scheme information registration unit 112 generates color scheme information by associating the displayed destination address with the color information representing the changed color. After that, the process of step S114 is performed.
(Step S114) The color scheme information registration unit 112 registers the color scheme information generated in step S113 in the color scheme table. The color scheme information storage unit 161 stores a color scheme table including color scheme information. After that, the process of step S115 is performed.
It should be noted that the processes of steps S113 and S114 are repeated until the coloration information of all destination addresses is saved. However, without being limited to this, the process of step S115 may be performed in a state in which the coloration information of some destination addresses is not saved. Further, the color scheme information registration unit 112 may register a specific color or a color automatically assigned to each destination address as the color scheme information of the destination address.

(Step S115) The coloration information determination unit 115 determines a color for each destination address by extracting color information corresponding to the destination address from the coloration information stored in the coloration table. After that, the process of step S116 is performed.
(Step S116) The display control unit 116 transmits the color information of the color determined in step S115 for each of the transmission destination addresses of the suspended e-mails. In the terminal device 2, each character string of the destination address is colored with the color determined in step S115 and displayed. After that, the process of step S117 is performed.

(Step S117) The authentication operation receiving unit 117 waits for the user's response to confirm whether the destination address is correct or not, and receives the response when the response is received. After that, the process of step S118 is performed.
(Step S118) The transmission stop canceling unit 118 determines whether or not the reply received in step S117 indicates that the transmission address is "correct." If the transmission stop canceling unit 118 determines that the transmission address is "correct", it cancels the stop of the transmission process by the transmission stop function. After that, the process of step S119 is performed.
(Step S119) The transmission control unit 119 performs transmission processing for the e-mail for which suspension was canceled in step S118. As a result, this e-mail is sent to each destination address. This completes the transmission of the e-mail for which the transmission operation was detected in step S110.

FIG. 7 is another flow chart showing a processing example of the e-mail management device 1 according to the present disclosure. As shown in this figure, in the e-mail management device 1, coloration information corresponding to each e-mail address may be set in advance and saved.

(Step S210) The coloring unit 111 causes the terminal device 2 to display the character string for the e-mail address selected by the user. Note that the color arrangement unit 111 extracts an e-mail address for which color arrangement information is not saved from among the e-mail addresses registered in the mailer or sent/received by the mailer, and causes the terminal device 2 to display the character string. good too. The color arrangement unit 111 changes the color by allowing the user to select the color of the character string. The color scheme information registration unit 112 generates color scheme information by associating the displayed destination address with the color information representing the changed color. After that, the process of step S211 is performed.
(Step S211) The color scheme information registration unit 112 registers the color scheme information generated in step S210 in the color scheme table. The color scheme information storage unit 161 stores a color scheme table including color scheme information. Note that the processes of steps S210 and S211 are performed for each e-mail address.

<Summary>
FIG. 8 is another schematic block diagram of the email management device 1 according to the present disclosure.
According to the e-mail system S according to the present disclosure, the destination extraction unit 114 acquires a destination address (an example of transmission address information) representing the address of the destination of the e-mail. The color scheme information determination unit 115 determines colors for each of one or more destination addresses based on a predetermined rule. Each character string of one or more destination addresses is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme information determination unit 115 .
As a result, the terminal device 2 displays the destination addresses in a color corresponding to each destination address. Since the terminal device 2 colors the character string of the destination address, it is possible to display the image in a short time with less processing load than when displaying the image of the image file. This allows the user to visually recognize the e-mail address and manage it efficiently. One or both of the destination extraction unit 114 and the color scheme information determination unit 115 may be provided in the terminal device 2 or may be provided in another device.

Further, according to the e-mail system S according to the present disclosure, the coloration information determination unit 115 determines different colors for at least two destination addresses, and these at least two destination addresses are different colors. displayed in color.
As a result, the terminal device 2 displays each destination address in a different color, which makes it easier for the user to visually recognize the transmission address.

In addition, according to the electronic mail system S according to the present disclosure, the transmission control unit 119 indicates that the user's reply to the correctness confirmation of the destination address is "correct" after each character string of the destination address is displayed. (an example of a case in which information indicating that the user has confirmed the destination address), an e-mail is sent to the destination address.
This allows the e-mail system S to allow the user to confirm the destination address before the mail is sent.

Further, according to the e-mail system S according to the present disclosure, the coloration information registration unit 112 associates the destination address with the color based on the user's operation, and stores them as coloration information. The color scheme information determining unit 115 determines colors by extracting corresponding colors from the color scheme information for each of one or more destination addresses.
As a result, the e-mail system S allows the user to set and save the color of each destination address, making it easier for the user to identify the destination address.

FIG. 9 is another flow chart showing a processing example of the e-mail management device 1 according to the present disclosure.
(Step S31) The coloration information determination unit 115 determines a color for each destination address by extracting color information corresponding to the destination address from the coloration information stored in the coloration table. After that, the process of step S32 is performed.
(Step S32) The display control unit 116 transmits the color information of the color determined in step S115 for each of the transmission destination addresses of the suspended e-mail. In the terminal device 2, each character string of the destination address is colored with the color determined in step S115 and displayed.
One or both of the color scheme information determination unit 115 and the display control unit 116 may be provided in the terminal device 2 or may be provided in another device.

<Modification>
In the e-mail system S disclosed above, the color scheme information registration unit 112 selects a color for the display name (<Manager X> in FIG. 1) in the mailer based on the user's operation, and associates the display name with the color. may be stored as color scheme information. In this case, the color scheme information determining unit 115 may refer to the color scheme table using each destination address and each display name extracted, and determine the color for each of the destination address and display name. Here, the color scheme information determination unit 115 preferentially refers to each display name first, and if each display name is registered in the color scheme table, each display name is displayed (even if an email address is also registered). Each display name and the destination address for which the display name is set may be displayed in a color corresponding to the name. Also, the color scheme information registration unit 112 may associate the display name, the email address, and the color and store them as color scheme information.

In the e-mail system S disclosed above, the color scheme information registration unit 112 selects a color for a part of the character string of the mail address based on the user's operation, associates the part of the character string with the color, and selects a color scheme. It may be stored as information. A part of the character string may be "part or all of the domain or local part." may be displayed in a corresponding color, or the entire destination address including a part of the character string may be displayed in a color corresponding to the part of the character string.

The color scheme information registration unit 112 may register a color scheme table for each of multiple users. The color scheme information determination unit 115 determines the same color for each of the destination addresses for these users. This allows a plurality of users to share each color of the destination address. The color scheme information registration unit 112 may register selectable colors in advance for a plurality of users. For example, colors are set in advance for each stage such as a specific company group (receiver or supplier, important customer or new customer) or a level that requires attention among a plurality of users, and the color scheme information registration unit 112 Let the user select the company group and level. The coloration information registration unit 112 may store, as coloration information, a color corresponding to the company group or level selected by the user for the email address. This allows a plurality of users to share coloring rules for each destination address according to company group and level.

In addition to or in place of the destination address, the display control unit 116 may display other addresses by coloring them in colors corresponding to each address. Addresses are, for example, From field, Sender field, To field, Reply-To field, Cc field, Bcc field, Resend field (Resent-From, Resent-Sender, Resent-To, Resent-Cc, Resent-Bcc), Return It is a part or a combination of addresses set in the -Path field.

In the e-mail system S disclosed above, for each destination address, font type, size, background color, underline, strikethrough, italic, bold, or font effect (shadow, three-dimensional, glow, etc.), etc. The form of the font may be associated and registered, and the display control unit 116 may display each destination address in the corresponding form. In addition, the display control unit 116 may change the arrangement (for example, the order) of the mail addresses for each color or mode and display them. Further, the display control unit 116 may emphasize and display a destination address that is not registered in the color scheme table. Emphasis is, for example, high-contrast color scheme (yellow background, red characters, etc.) and bold characters.

Note that the above e-mail management device 1 and terminal device 2 (information processing device 22) record a program for realizing each function in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in this recording medium is read. The above processing may be performed by loading and executing the program on a computer system. It should be noted that the "computer system" here includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. Also, the "computer system" includes a WWW system provided with a home page providing environment (or display environment). The term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible discs, magneto-optical discs, ROMs and CD-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard discs incorporated in computer systems. In addition, "computer-readable recording medium" means a volatile memory (RAM) inside a computer system that acts as a server or client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. , includes those that hold the program for a certain period of time.

Further, the above program may be transmitted from a computer system storing this program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in a transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. Further, the program may be for realizing part of the functions described above. Further, it may be a so-called difference file (difference program) that can realize the above-described functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... E-mail management apparatus 111... Color arrangement part 112... Color arrangement information registration part 113... Transmission stop part 114... Destination extraction part 115... Color arrangement information determination part , 116... display control unit, 117... confirmation operation receiving unit, 118... transmission stop release unit, 119... transmission control unit, 161... color scheme information storage unit, 2... terminal device , 221... color scheme selection unit, 222... information transmission unit, 223... color scheme information reception unit, 224... destination output unit, 225... confirmation operation transmission unit, 11... CPU, 12... communication module, 13... power supply, 14... ROM, 15... RAM, 16... HDD, 21... display, 22... information processing apparatus

Claims (8)

a destination extraction unit that acquires destination address information representing an e-mail destination address;
a color scheme determination unit that determines a color based on a predetermined rule for each of the one or more pieces of destination address information;
a display control unit for displaying each character string of one or more of the destination address information in the color determined by the color scheme determination unit;
An e-mail system with The color scheme determining unit determines different colors for at least two pieces of the destination address information,
2. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein said display control unit displays said at least two pieces of said destination address information in different colors. After each character string of the destination address information is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme determining unit, when information indicating that the user has confirmed the destination address information is input, the e-mail is sent. 3. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission control unit for transmitting to the destination address. further comprising a color scheme information registration unit that associates the destination address information with a color based on a user operation and stores the information as color scheme information;
4. The color arrangement determination unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein for each of the one or more pieces of destination address information, the color scheme determination unit determines colors by extracting colors corresponding to the color scheme information. E-mail system as described. a destination transmission unit for transmitting destination address information representing the address of the destination of the e-mail;
a color scheme receiving unit that receives a color determined based on a predetermined rule for each of the one or more pieces of destination address information;
with
Each character string of the one or more destination address information is displayed in the color received by the color scheme receiving unit. a destination extraction unit that acquires destination address information representing an e-mail destination address;
a color scheme determination unit that determines a color based on a predetermined rule for each of the one or more pieces of destination address information;
with
The e-mail management device, wherein each character string of one or more of the destination address information is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme determination unit. a destination extraction process in which the destination extraction unit acquires destination address information representing the address of the destination of the e-mail;
a color scheme determination process in which a color scheme determination unit determines a color for each of the one or more destination address information based on a predetermined rule;
has
The e-mail control method, wherein each character string of one or more of the destination address information is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme determination unit. to the computer,
Destination extracting means for acquiring destination address information representing the address of the destination of the e-mail;
a color scheme determining means, wherein the color scheme determining unit determines a color based on a predetermined rule for each of the one or more pieces of destination address information;
and
A program, wherein each character string of one or more of the destination address information is displayed in the color determined by the color scheme determination unit.

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