Messaging processing system and method

• US 6,418,465 B1
• Filed: 02/24/1999
• Issued: 07/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Ueoka, Atsushi, Nara, Yutaka, Morishige, Takehiro, Ito, Tsutomu, Hidaka, Minoru, Hirosawa, Toshio
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, KHANH Q
• Application Number:
  US09/256,176
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/201, 709/203, 709/206, 709/219, 709/224, 709/220, 370/94.1, 370/100
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A messaging processing system which includes a process control table for storing the control information of a process corresponding to access terminals connected through a public network in a form that identifiers indicating the ‘priority processing’ are added to the control information, and a scheduler that executes the process having the identifier indicating the ‘priority processing’ in preference to the other processes during the dispatching processing of the process.

Claims

1. A messaging processing system that administers a store and a forward processing of messages interchanged between a plurality of access terminals, the system comprising:

storage means that store a control information of a process corresponding to an access terminal;

control means for adding an identifier indicating that a message processing request from a specific access terminal is processed in preference to the other access terminals to a control information area of the process corresponding to the specific access terminal in the storage means; and

message process control means that process the message from the specific access terminal corresponding to the process with the identifier added, in preference to messages from the other access terminal,

wherein the message processing control means include means to repeat an operation that brings the specific process again into a wait state of a message input until the repetitive operation reaches a specific frequency, when a wait time for the message input of the process corresponding to the specific access terminal exceeds a certain pre-assigned time.

2. A messaging processing system according to claim 1, wherein the control means include means to automatically add the identifier to a process corresponding to an access terminal connected through a public network.

3. A messaging processing system according to claim 1, wherein the identifier is a priority number used by a dispatching processing program.