APPARATUS, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PROCESSING EMAIL, AND APPARATUS FOR SEARCHING EMAIL

• US 20090049144A1
• Filed: 03/19/2008
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Masaru, Ishitani, Yasuto
• Granted Patent: US 9,032,031 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

An email processing apparatus determines, from at least one or more of a main body of an email and a subject of an email stored in an email storage unit, a content category of the email; specifies, based on the content category, a search target category of a search target email that relates to the email of the content category; acquires search target information for searching for a search target email of the search target category; and creates a search condition for searching for the search target email containing the search target information in the email storage unit.

Claims

1. An email processing apparatus comprising:

a category determining unit configured to determine a content category of an email, from at least one of a main body of the email and a subject of the email stored in an email storage unit;

a specifying unit configured to specify a search target category to which the search target email relating to the email belongs, based on the content category determined by the category determining unit;

a acquiring unit configured to acquire search target information for searching for the search target email belonging to the search target category; and

a creating unit configured to create a search condition for searching for the search target email that contains the search target information and belongs to the search target category, from the email storage unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an attribute acquiring unit configured to acquire an attribute;

wherein

the specifying unit uses the attribute to further narrow down and specify the search target category.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a keyword receiving unit configured to receive input of a keyword; and

an attribute-determining storage unit configured to store the keyword and an attribute obtained by abstracting the keyword, in correspondence with each other;

wherein

the attribute acquiring unit acquires the attribute corresponding to the keyword input by the keyword receiving unit, from the attribute-determining storage unit.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display unit configured to display an email stored in the email storage unit; and

a correspondence storage unit configured to store a content category of the email displayed by the display unit and the search target category indicating a category to which a search target email relating to the email displayed by the display unit belonging, in correspondence with each other;

wherein

the specifying unit specifies the search target category corresponding to the content category, from the correspondence storage unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a character-string storage unit configured to store the search target category and a character string used as a search key, in correspondence with each other;

wherein

the acquiring unit acquires the character string information corresponding to the search target category as the search target information, from the character-string storage unit; and

the creating unit creates search condition for searching for the search target email containing the character string information as the search target email belongs to the search target category.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a search-history storage unit configured to store the search target category specified when searching a previous email, and a search target attribute held by a search target email detected as being belonging to the search target category, in correspondence with each other;

wherein

the acquiring unit acquires the search target attribute corresponding to the search target category as the search target information, from the search-history storage unit; and

the creating unit further creates a search condition for searching for a search target email having the search target attribute in the email storage unit.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a display unit configured to display the search target email as a search result of a search unit for searching the email storage unit based on the search condition;

a desired-email determining unit configured to determine whether the search target email displayed by the display unit is an email desired by a user; and

a registration unit configured to register the search target category specified by the determining unit and the search target attribute held by the desired email in the search-history storage unit, in correspondence with each other, when the search target email is determined to be the desired email.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a category-determination-information storage unit configured to store the content category and a category-determination character string indicating a character string that should be contained in an email of the content category, in correspondence with each other;

wherein

the category determining unit determines that the content category corresponding to the category-determination character string is a content category indicating the email in the category-determination information storage unit, when at least one of a main body of the mail and a subject of the email displayed by the display unit contains the category-determination character string.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an email-display determining unit configured to determine whether an email displayed by the display unit is being viewed by a user;

wherein

the category determining unit determines the content category that categorizes the email, from at least one of a main body of the mail and a subject of the email that is determined as being viewed.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input receiving unit configured to receive input of a keyword for searching for a search target email that is different from an email displayed by the display unit;

wherein

the creating unit creates a search condition for searching for the search target email containing the search target information and the input keyword, from the email storage unit.

11. An email search apparatus comprising:

an email storage unit configured to store emails;

a category determining unit configured to determine a content category of the email, from at least one of a main body of the email and a subject of the email stored in the email storage unit;

a specifying unit configured to specify a search target category to which the search target email relating to the email belongs, based on the content category determined by the category determining unit;

a acquiring unit configured to acquire search target information for searching for the search target email belonging to the search target category;

a creating unit configured to create a search condition for searching for the search target email that contains the search target information and belongs to the search target category, from the email storage unit; and

a search unit configured to search for an email containing the search condition from the email storage unit.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising an attribute acquiring unit configured to acquire an attribute;

wherein

the specifying unit uses the attribute to further narrow down and specify the search target category.

13. An email processing method comprising:

determining a content category of an email, from at least one of a main body of the email and a subject of the email stored in an email storage unit;

specifying a search target category to which the search target email relating to the email belongs, based on the content category;

acquiring search target information for searching for the search target email belonging to the search target category; and

creating a search condition for searching for a search target email containing the search target information and belongs to the search target category, from the email storage unit.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising acquiring an attribute;

wherein

the specifying uses the attribute to further narrow down and specify the search target category.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

receiving input of a keyword; and

storing the keyword and an attribute obtained by abstracting the keyword, in correspondence with each other in an attribute-determining storage unit;

wherein

the attribute acquiring acquires the attribute corresponding to the keyword input in the receiving, from the attribute-determining storage unit.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

displaying an email stored in the email storage unit; and

storing a content category of the email displayed in the displaying and the search target category indicating a category to which a search target email relating to the email displayed in the displaying belonging, in correspondence with each other in a correspondence storage unit;

wherein

the specifying specifies the search target category corresponding to the content category, from the correspondence storage unit.

17. A computer program product having a computer readable medium including programmed instructions for processing email, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:

determining a content category of an email, from at least one of a main body of the email and a subject of the email stored in an email storage unit;

specifying a search target category to which the search target email relating to the email belongs, based on the content category;

acquiring search target information for searching for the search target email belonging to the search target category; and

creating a search condition for searching for a search target email containing the search target information and belongs to the search target category, from the email storage unit.

18. A computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the computer to further perform:

acquiring an attribute;

wherein

the specifying uses the attribute to further narrow down and specify the search target category.

19. A computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the computer to further perform:

receiving input of a keyword; and

storing the keyword and an attribute obtained by abstracting the keyword, in correspondence with each other in an attribute-determining storage unit;

wherein

the attribute acquiring acquires the attribute corresponding to the keyword input in the receiving, from the attribute-determining storage unit.

20. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the computer to further perform:

displaying an email stored in the email storage unit; and

storing a content category of the email displayed in the displaying and the search target category indicating a category to which a search target email relating to the email displayed in the displaying belonging, in correspondence with each other in a correspondence storage unit;

wherein

the specifying specifies the search target category corresponding to the content category, from the correspondence storage unit.