WO1999021111A1

WO1999021111A1 - Attribute driven message management device and method

Info

Publication number: WO1999021111A1
Application number: PCT/EP1998/006605
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael Rupprecht
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 1997-10-20
Filing date: 1998-10-19
Publication date: 1999-04-29
Also published as: DE19746252A1; EP1029300A1; CN1276893A; JP2001521302A; AU1154699A; TW476036B

Abstract

To achieve a highly efficient identification of messages stored in the storage unit (12) of a message handling system the storage unit (12) is adapted to store a plurality of messages to provide a dynamic access thereto. This is achieved by at least one attribute (A=(p,f) ε A) assigned to each message such that each attribute describes at least one aspect of a message and a specific value for this aspect. Typical aspects to be used within the message handling systems are, e.g., a folder aspect, a status aspect, a time aspect, or a communication partner aspect. Within the message handling system (10) access to stored messages is organized through views being defined as a subset of view aspects (pξ ⊆ P) and a set of view values (Vpξ ⊆ V) for each such view aspect. Messages are then read from the storage unit (12) in accordance with the specified view.

Description

Attribute driven message management device and method

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an attribute driven message management device and a method being related thereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Through the advances of transmission technology, e.g., frame relay, ATM, ISDN, GSM, and the ever decreasing costs for all kinds of terminal equipment fast and productive communication by all kinds of messaging is a rapidly growing market nowadays. Decreased costs for computer equipment have enabled a digital storage of all kinds of message types, i.e. voice mail, fax, e-mail. The success and widespread use of fax, answering machines, voice mail and e-mail shows that users are starting to realize the impact of new communication technologies as opposed to direct interactive communication, e.g., video telephony or normal telephony, respectively.

The first generation of new messaging systems now is established and in frequent use. Here, electronic mail is the most advanced and most accepted tool for messaging. One typical example for an electronic system is the internet wherein text messages are encoded for transmission according to the RFC822 internet telecommunication standard described in D. Crocker, "Standard for the format of ARPA internet text messages", August 1982, Network Information Center, USA, RFC822.

However, other kinds of messaging, like fax and voice mail coexist for a long time and integration between these systems is possible and available already today. In particular, an increasing proportion of electronic mail messages have a multimedia format-type, including, e.g., text, audio, video, and still pictures in a single mail message. Therefore, the most promising service is the integration of a plurality of different message types into a single mail, e.g., text, audio, pictures and/or video. Attempts to standardize the encoding and their context for transmission is described in N.S. Borenstein "Internet Multimedia Mail with MIME: Emerging Standards for Interoperability", Proceedings of ULPAA, 1992, pages 173 to 182, and in D.C.A. Bulterman, G. van Rossum and R. van Liere "A Structure for Transportable, Dynamic Multimedia Documents", Proceedings of USENIX 1991, Nashville, Tennessee, pages 137 to 155.

Therefore, mail messages provide for a new means of communication such as graphics with associated audio comments or even full video. Further, products will allow for the integration of multimedia services with other messaging services like voice mail and fax.

A major advantage of integrated mail messages is that they allow for a more integrated approach to different message types, as outlined above. This requires a central message handling for all different kinds of message data. This central message handling enables a user access to electronic messages from a plurality of terminals via different network types and it also enables communication with fax, telephone and e-mail users. As shown in Fig. 8, currently the management of messages is based on a system where a set of folders comprising messages is organized in a tree structure. Here, messages are copied and moved between different folders. In particular, each folder is dedicated to store new messages and each message may have an attribute assigned to it that is taken out of a pre-specified set, e.g., new, unread, read.

As shown in Fig. 8, the set of stored messages corresponds to an automatically filled database, e.g., comprising project related or administration related information. Further, searching in this database is supported by appropriate tools. Within enhanced management systems filtering of incoming messages is supported based on a set of explicit rules specifying conditions for the context of specific fields in the received messages, e.g., ProcMail for UNIX. The result of this filtering is that an appropriate action is initiated, e.g., moving or copying a received message to a specific folder or creation and subsequent automatic storing of a new message.

However, as can be seen from Fig. 8, the main problem is that usually messages can be seen under several systematic aspects. One example would be that a received message comprises information with respect to, e.g., project A, project B, addresses and bills. Here, it would be difficult to decide to what folder this message should actually be assigned since the address and bill are also relevant outside the scope of the project. Therefore, it is very difficult to pre-specify a tree structure in a way that all received messages may be categorized and stored therein irrespective of a varying format. Further, in case the tree structure is very general, it is difficult to retrieve messages after storage.

On the other hand, when providing a structure reflecting a more specific categorization of messages there arises the possibility of a message not belonging to any one of the pre-specified folders. To the contrary, if a message may be assigned to a plurality of different folders due to the specific categorization, it might be necessary to copy these messages and store them in multiple locations. At least a pointer to a location of a full copy of a message must be stored in those folders being related to the message and not containing a copy thereof. However, this leads to a significant increase either in the required storage capacity or to an increased complexity for the administration of messages.

Also, an intuitive definition of the tree structure may result in messages stored either by the user of the message handling system himself or by a filtering of folder that is not appropriate for the message or in a folder not containing all related messages. Overall, messages may not be retrieved in a well aimed manner.

One alternative would be to continuously update the tree structure so as to provide additional folders for previously received messages that could not be categorized. Clearly this, too, is undesirable because it adds an extra step during the handling of messages, it increases the number of storage locations that must be searched during message retrieval, and it is likely to lead to a requirement that the overall structure of storage locations needs to be periodically rearranged to accommodate all of the newly created folders in a systematic manner to enable message retrieval. Further, in case of not continually up-dating the folder structure the structure rapidly becomes obsolete and irrelevant since messages that could not be categorized must be stored in a di-immy folder. In this case, a very undesirable consequence is that it becomes increasingly difficult to find a message during retrieval.

Finally, while stored messages can be seen under several systematic aspects, e.g., sender, recipient, time and/or date of sending, and so on, currently message handling systems allow the management of stored messages only under a very restricted number of aspects in dependence of the tree structure of the folder. Also, a standard message handling system organizes the stored messages with highest priority in a static fashion into the hierarchical tree folder structure. As shown in Fig. 8, known message management systems thus only allow a view on the messages under specific aspects with lower priority within sub- folders .

Overall, the organization of the messages into a tree structure does not fulfill user requirements to retrieve a specific message under a number of freely specifiable aspects. Therefore, the user of such a system cannot utilize the full information available within the message management system. In addition, the restricted storage capacity forms a restriction for the upper number of folders and thus for the maximum number of aspects supported by the message management system. Finally, state of the art message management systems do not provide adequate searching and management tools. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the problems outlined above the object of the invention is to achieve a highly efficient identification of messages according to user requirements within a message handling system.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a message handling system comprising a storage means to store a plurality of messages and to provide dynamic access thereto via at least one attribute assigned to each message, each attribute describing at least one aspect of a message and a specific value of this aspect, input/output means to transfer messages to and from a storage means, respectively, view specifying means to input a user-defined view on the stored messages through a set of view aspects and a set of view values for each view aspect, and message retrieval means to select messages of a view from the storage means in accordance with the specific view aspects and view values assigned thereto.

Therefore, the efficient and advanced management handling system provides an important factor for the productivity. Here, stored messages are managed in a very flexible and efficient manner since messages are accessed by so-called attributes and user specified views without any pre- specified structure imposed thereon. Therefore, when a user of the inventive message management system wants to see different messages with respect to a certain aspect they can be arranged in real time since messages are stored using a set of attributes to characterize the logical context of a message, contrary to the tree structure described with respect to the state of the art. As soon as a user specifies the logical context he is currently interested in, the message management system displays all related messages for the specific context.

Further, since messages are stored only once, the overall storage capacity necessary for the implementation of the message management system is decreased significantly.

Therefore, the invention allows to build up efficient message handling systems for all kinds of messages in a flexible and efficient manner. In particular, it is possible to modify the existing management handling systems simply by adding messages with aspects not stored previously. Here, no modification of the previously stored messages or rearrangement thereof is necessary.

According to a further aspect of the present invention the message handling system comprises a message processor means to process the messages selected from the storage means in accordance with the view. The provision of a message processor means allows not only to store different messages within the inventive message handling system but also to adequately modify and redefine attributes thereof. Further, the processing capability of the inventive message handling system increases the ease of administration for the different messages stored therein.

According to a further aspect of the present invention in the message handling system the storage means is either adapted to store single messages in a sequential way such that to every message there is attached a linked list of attributes or such that all attributes are stored in a sequential way and to every attribute there is attached a linked list of messages. Here, the storage scheme is particularly adapted for a very efficient access to messages stored in the inventive message handling system in dependence either of the different messages or the different aspects.

According to a further aspect of the present invention in the message handling system the view specifying means comprises a view storage means to store standard views.

This allows for a significant increase of accessibility to messages when compared to a standard implementation without any maintenance of information being related to stored messages. Further, the administration on standard views may be executed in the background so that the update process does not cause remarkable delays to the user. As standard views are stored in the inventive message handling system no functionality known from available message handling systems is lost and predefined subfolder structures or user defined views may automatically be supported.

According to another aspect of the present invention in the message handling system there is provided a filter means to identify messages transferred to and from the storage means, respectively, in accordance with a prespecified view. Here, the user has the option to be informed on occasion of the transfer of particular information he is relying on. Also, a billing step may be executed automatically and security within the inventive message handling system may be enhanced. The last point is of particular importance within distributed computing environments where a nearly unlimited number of users may have access to the system.

According to another aspect of the present invention in the message handling system there is provided a sorting means to sort selected messages according to user specified criteria. The provision of a sorting means allows for selective operation on messages not only during the input and output thereof but also internally within the message handling system. Typical examples for criteria to carry out the search may be user defined criteria, system depended criteria, or hardware dependent criteria, respectively.

Finally, according to another aspect of the present invention in the message handling system there is provided an editing and structuring means within the message processing means. Overall, the editing and structuring means provides an enhanced processing capability within the message handling system. In particular, attributes may be modified to achieve a flexible adaptation of stored information. Further, temporal and structural relationships between different messages may be exploited according to a certain view. Another option is the synchronization of messages in case of multimedia application.

Also, the object of the invention is achieved through a method of handling electronic messages in a digital communication system, comprising the steps of storing at least one message in a storage means in a way that at least one attribute is assigned to each message and each attribute describes at least one aspect of a message and a specified value assigned to this aspect, receiving a user defined view on the stored messages as a set of view aspects and a set of view values for each view aspect, and selecting the messages from the storage means according to the view and the specified view aspects and view values assigned thereto. According to the inventive method similar advantages as outlined above may be achieved within a message handling system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the enclosed drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows a systematic diagram of the message management system according to invention;

Fig. 2 shows a first architecture of the memory unit shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a second architecture of the memory unit shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows a systematic diagram of the view specifying unit according to the invention;

Fig. 5 shows a systematic diagram of the message processing unit according to the invention;

Fig. 6 shows an example of structuring a plurality of different messages into a multimedia document according to the invention;

Fig. 7 shows a flowgraph diagram of the message handling method according to the invention; and

Fig. 8 shows the organization of messages in tree structures according to the state of the art.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

To avoid to statically divide a set M of storage messages into folders the present invention makes use of a at least one logical view on each message m e M. To this end, according to the invention each message has assigned to it a specific set of attributes A_m e A. Here, each attribute a G A is typically a two-tuple (p, f) where p e P defines a specific aspect of a message and f e F defines the appropriate value assigned to this aspect.

The most common aspect to look at the set of stored messages is the folder aspect Pfolder ^to find one common systematic criteria based on the context, the subject, the sender or the receiver.

-Another aspect that could be considered is the status aspect P_Ξtatus' ^e-9-/ new, unread, read. Here, each message has exactly one attribute that may be made visible to the user. To look at messages under the status aspect means that the most obvious criteria to group messages is the common status as outlined above.

Another aspect is the time aspect Pti e ^tnat is enabled only in restricted manner in available message storage systems. Here, it is possible to identify a message according to its arrival or sending time. In particular, it is possible to identify a message received or sent at a specific time or within a specific time period across all stored information.

Another aspect for stored messages is the communication partner p_com aspect where messages are identified on the basis of the message. In particular, there may exist a set of messages belonging to either a specific recipient or a group, e.g., members of a project, customers.

Another aspect for messages could be the keyword aspect Pkeyw that is very useful to enable the user to add keywords for the characterization of the contexts of a message. Here, the user has the possibility to add these keywords to a message in order to flexibly make the contexts of the message obvious and to enable a well-aimed search for specific messages.

Another aspect for messages could be adapted to enable a discussion on a dedicated subject. To look at messages under this aspect means that the most obvious criteria for grouping messages is a common subject.

As soon as the different aspects for messages in the inventive message handling system are available the next step is to assign specific values to the different aspects outlined above, e.g. Pfolder, ^pstatus' Ptime' Pcom ^and Pkeyw- Typical examples for such value set are as follows:

ITfolder = {project-a/addresses, project-a/incurring, project-a/outgoing, ...}

^Fstatus ⁼ {new, unread, read, filtered, very urgent, urgent, ... }

^Ftime ⁼ {December 1996, May 1st 1997,...}

^Fcom ⁼ {group-member, external-partner,...}

^Fkeyw ⁼ {address, financial data, contracts, order, ... }

Here each value set may be combined with the respective aspect to form a specific attribute a e A. Therefore for each aspect pj_ the set of corresponding attributes is defined as

A_± = {_Pi} x F_i#

Further, the set of all possible attributes is given by

^Aall = ({folder} x F_folder) ({keyw} x F_keyw) ({status x F_status) ...

A subset of all attributes A_m c A is related to each specific messages, and such a subset of attributes may comprise several elements having the same aspect p but different values f assigned to this same aspect p, e.g.,

A_m={ (folder, project_a/incoming) , (folder, project- a/addresses) , (status, read) , (recipient, rupprecht@eed.ericsson.de) , (recipient, fax=+492407575400)}

According to this example, two attributes exist with the aspect folder, i.e. project_a/incoming and project- a/addresses also, messages being related to this subset of attributes are send to two recipients, but of course they may have only one status, i.e. read in this case. In the following a more general explanation of the concept underlying the retrieval of storage messages in the inventive message handling system will be given.

To retrieve new messages that are related to a specific context according to the invention so-called views are used. According to the invention a view V is defined as a set of view aspects p_v c P and a plurality of sets of view values f_pγ -≡ Fp for each of the view aspects py c P.

Therefore, a view defines a subset My c M of messages being defined as

An example would be that a view is specified by the aspect folder and further by a specific value for this aspect as project_a/outgoing. Here, this view would specify all messages comprising the aspect Pfoider' ^anc iⁿ particular having the value of this aspect defined to project- a/outgoing. Another typical example would be that not only one but a plurality of specific values for a selected aspect are used to define a subset of messages, i.e.

M unread)

/ e A_m m } )

Here, there is specified a view where all newly or unread messages are presented irrespective of the fact when they have been transferred to the message management system or at what time the transfer occurred. This example shows that no functionality known from today's message handling systems is lost according to the invention using the attribute driven message handling system.

Fig. 1 shows a message handling system 10 according to the invention and being based on the principles outlined above. In particular, this message handling system comprises a memory unit 12 to actually store all messages in the system. As can be seen from Fig. 1, this memory unit 12 is not particularly adapted to a single type of message but may store any type of message, e.g. a text ml or audio m2. In addition, different messages comprise different aspects assigned thereto and also different specific values for these different aspects.

Fig. 1 also shows that the transfer of messages to the memory unit 12 is executed by an I/O unit 14. Further, a view specifying unit 16 allows to define different views on all messages stored in the memory unit 12 and message processing unit 18 is provided to carry out manipulations on messages selected from the memory unit 12 through a particular view.

As shown in Fig. 1, the I/O unit 14 is not only connected with the memory unit 12 but also to the view specifying unit 16 and the message processing unit 18. Further, the view specifying unit 16 as well the message processing unit 18 are also directly connected to the memory unit 12 in case message processing steps are carried out only within the message handling system 10 and without any external data transfer.

As shown in Fig. 1 during operation of the message handling system 10 usually a view will be specified through the view specifying unit 16 and then all messages characterized by this view will be outputted via the I/O unit 14.

It should be noted, however, this is not the only way of operation. A further option would be that, firstly, a view is specified by the view specifying unit 16 and this view is then used to control the input and output of messages to the memory unit 12, e.g., such that only messages belonging to a certain view may be inputted to the memory unit 12 or in case a message according to a specific view is outputted a corresponding notification is forwarded to the operator of the message handling system 10.

Another option would be to select a subset of messages from the memory unit 12 according to a view specified in the view specifying unit 16 and then to forward the selected messages to the message processing unit 18. After carrying out processing steps on the selected messages these messages could either be restored in the memory unit 12 or be outputted by the I/O unit 14.

Fig. 2 shows a first embodiment 12-1 of the memory unit 12 according to in Fig. 1. Here the different messages mι_, ... mj_, ..., mτ_ are stored in a sequential manner. Besides data every message m-j_ also stores a pointer to a linked list of attributes. Therefore, with the address of a specific message m_ also all attributes aj__, ..., aj_Lin are easily available. A further advantage of this organization of data is that the set of attributes can be simply modified either through deletion of an attribute from the linked list or by adding a further attribute of the end the linked list. All these steps can be carried out in constant time respective of the amount of information stored in the memory unit 12- 1.

Fig. 3 shows another embodiment 12-2 of the memory unit 12 according to Fig. 1 that is particularly well suited to implement a search functionality within the message handling system. As shown in Fig. 3, data is not organized according to the set of messages but according to the set of attributes currently being stored in the message handling system 10. Thus, all attributes aι_, ...,aj_, ..., aj_ are arranged in sequential manner and each attribute a_j_ comprises a pointer to a linked list m_j_i_[, ..., m_j_τ_ of messages for which the specific attribute a_ holds true.

Here, it should be noted that the linked list should not actually comprise the message of such but only an address thereto in order to avoid a multiple storage of messages being related to a plurality of attributes.

The major advantage of the organization of data according to Fig. 3 is that once a view has been specified as a subset of attributes the corresponding subset of messages is immediately available from the memory unit 12-2. Therefore, this embodiment of the inventive message handling system 10 permits a much more efficient and therefore rapid retrieval of messages according to prespecified views after storage than in the conventional method. Also, this implementation is well suited for cases where mathematic and logical operations are carried out on attributes to indirectly operate on the set of messages stored in the message handling system 10. Therefore the invention permits fast and highly accurate message retrieval after storage of messages according to Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 shows a specific embodiment of the view specifying unit 16 with an interface 20, a view memory 22, and a pointer administration unit 24. As shown in Fig. 1, this view specifying unit 16 is connected both to the memory unit 12 and the I/O unit 14.

The interface 20 serves to receive commands specified by a user of the message handling system 10. Further, the view memory 22 is provided to define different views on demand by the user. Finally, the pointer administration unit 24 is provided to maintain a correspondence between the views Vj_ stored in the view memory 22 and a list of pointers to all messages stored in the memory unit 12 and corresponding to such a view Vj_ .

During operation of the view specifying unit 16 shown in Fig. 4 usually a view is defined by the user via the interface 20. In case the view is of general interest and used several times such a specified view may be stored in the view memory 22, as outlined above.

In particular in case the view memory 22 stores standard views corresponding to, e.g., the folder tree structure discussed with respect to the state of the art it can be seen that no functionality known from available message handling systems is lost using the attribute driven message handling system according to the present invention. Thus, the user interface differs between standard views like a view for the content of specific, predefined subfolders and user defined views. Here, the standard views are generated automatically by the message handling system in case the user defines a new folder.

As shown in Fig. 4, in particular the pointer administration unit 24 allows to enhance the access to messages being related to commonly used standard views. Since for each such standard view V_j_ a linked list of pointers to those messages is maintained that are related to this view an access thereto is possible in constant time irrespective of the amount of information stored in the message handling system 10.

Therefore, this embodiment of the present invention allows for a significant increase of accessibility to messages when compared to an implementation with a linear search in the complete information stored in the message handling system 10. Here, the search could take a very long time growing linearly with the number of messages stored in the system.

According to the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4 in case an attribute for a view is changed, pointers to respective messages are to be added or removed from the list attached to the respective view. According to the invention this happens in the background and since the search result is not required immediately the update process does not cause remarkable delays to the user.

Fig. 5 shows a further embodiment of the present invention, in particular an embodiment of the message processing unit 18 shown in Fig. 1. Here, the message processing unit 18 comprises an interface unit 26, a filter unit 28, a sorting unit 30, and a editing and structuring unit 32.

The interface unit 26 is provided to achieve the input and output of views, commands and messages to be handled by the message processing unit 18. Therefore, all further elements of the message processing unit 18, i.e. the filter unit 28, the sorting unit 30 and the editing and structuring unit 32 are connected to this interface unit. Further, the filter unit 28, the sorting unit 30 and the editing and structuring unit 32 are linked to each other so that one unit may operate on the results generated by the other.

As shown in Fig. 5 the first unit in the message processing unit 18 is the filter unit 28 adapted to select messages according to defined views and to identify the messages being related to such views, respectively. To this end a view may be inputted at the filter unit 28 via the interface unit 26. A first option of the invention is that the filter unit 28 is activated with every transfer of a message to and from the storage unit 12 such that it is checked whether the message is related to the view.

The filter unit 28 then may initiate a plurality of steps within the inventive message handling system 10. Firstly, the filter unit 28 may be adapted to execute automatic alert in case a message with respect to a specific view is transferred. Thus, the user of the inventive message handling system 10 has the option to be informed on occasion of the transfer of particular information his relying on.

Secondly, another option would be to automatically initiate a billing step within the message handling system 10 upon the detection of a specific transfer. This option is of particularly use within commercial message handling systems being attached to, e.g., the internet or a X.25 and X.400 network system.

In addition, the filter unit 28 may be adapted to block a transfer of a message with respect to a specific view in case security and/or authentication requirements for this message are not fulfilled. This enhanced security feature is of particular importance in case the inventive message handling system 10 is used within distributed computing environments where a nearly unlimited number of users may have access to the system.

Another element of the message processing unit 18 shown in Fig. 5 is the sorting unit 30. The sorting unit 30 differs over the filter unit 28 that it not only serves to identify a subset of messages but also allows for a specific context depend modification of data read from the memory unit 12. Here, once messages are selected according to a certain view the corresponding messages may be sorted according to a plurality of user defined sorting criteria.

Firstly, these criteria could be based on the aspect describe above, e.g., the time aspect so that different messages are sorted according to the receiving time.

Another option would be sort the different messages according to operation system dependent criteria, e.g. the storage space required for different messages. This would be appropriate in case restrictions on the memory space within the memory unit 12 must be considered. Here, it might be very useful to check on those messages that require a very large storage space within the system.

Finally, messages could be sorted according to criteria determined on the hardware level. One typical example for this would be the case where messages correspond to multimedia application where messages are grouped according to hardware requirements such as audio and video capabilities.

As can be seen from Fig. 5 the advantage of the attribute driven message handling system 10 of the invention is that it is much easier to combine a memory unit 12 with a filter and sorting unit.

In case a rule based approach is chosen for the filter and sorting unit this leads to an artificial intelligent oriented message handling system for intelligent filter and sorting adaptation according to a user behavior and general requirements .

Also, using this technique attributes may be added automatically according to prespecified rules, e.g., on occurrence of specific events in the message handling system 10. Here, no views of today's message handling systems are lost, but according to the invention additional possibilities and options are realized.

As shown in Fig. 5, the message processing unit 18 in addition to the filter unit 28 and sorting unit 30 described above also comprises an editing and structuring unit 32 for enhanced data processing on messages selected according to a certain view.

According to a first functionality of this editing and structuring unit 32 it is possible to modify attributes of selected messages through addition, deletion, or modification either of the aspects or the specific values for the aspects of a certain message. This allows for a flexible adaptation of stored information to changing conditions, e.g., during the development of a project.

Another functionality of the editing and structuring unit 32 is the exploitation of temporal and structural relationships between messages according to a certain view such as the classification of these messages into different groups, e.g. text, audio, video, picture, mail, voice mail, fax, and also the synchronization of such messages, e.g., in case the different messages are related to a multimedia document .

Fig. 6 shows a typical example for the exploitation of temporal and structural relationships. Here, the different messages may correspond to a multimedia document to be displayed via, e.g., a PC-terminal or TV-set. Typically, the messages fall into the four different groups audio for announcing the information to be transferred, video for displaying moving pictures being related to the announced information, graphical information to be superimposed to the video representation and labeling for short message display.

As shown in Fig. 6 the messages falling into the different groups have imposed a sequential order thereon within a single group. Further, it is necessary to describe the temporal relations between messages falling into different groups through synchronization arcs 34 to 50 that are stored as attributes.

Here, the use of attributes for synchronization gives the inventive message handling system 10 the ability to reconstruct multimedia documents from messages that may be randomly stored in the memory unit 12. Synchronization arcs 34 to 50 consist of three basic elements reference time, minimum acceptable delay and maximum tolerable delay.

The reference time is a relative or absolute reference definition for events synchronization. Absolute reference times are specified relative to the route of the multimedia document. Usually it is not possible to specify a timing relationship where the destination, e.g., the report video 58, starts before the source, e.g., the report text 54.

Further, the minimum acceptable delay time is a period that specifies the minimum delay that may be allowed in the synchronization relationship. A minimum delay zero units indicates a hard synchronization relationship. A negative delay represents the ability to start the target note sooner then the indicated reference time.

Finally, the maximum tolerable delay time is a period that specifies the maximum delay that can be allowed in the synchronization relationship. A maximum delay of zero units indicates a hard synchronization relationship. A positive delay gives an upper bound on the permissible delay in starting an event to the reference time.

It should be mentioned that this approach to synchronization during the inventive message handling system 10 maps well on multiprocessor systems and that synchronization arcs correspond to fork and join operations .

Fig. 7 shows a flowchart diagram for a processing sequence within the inventive message handling system 10. Here, in a first step SI it is interrogated whether a request for a new view has been received by the message handling system 10. If this is the case, messages are selected according to the requested new view in step S2.

Then, in step S3 it is interrogated whether in addition a request not only for the selection of new messages but also for a processing thereof has been received by the message handling system 10. In the affirmative case filtering, sorting, editing and structuring as outlined above may be executed.

Further, as shown in Fig. 7 the system will continuously loop through the steps SI to S4 so as to provide an user of the message handling system 10 with the necessary information in an on-line fashion.

As outlined above, the invention allows to built up an efficient message handling system 10 for all kinds of messages, e.g., text, audio, video, picture, mail, voice mail, fax in a flexible manner with improved system integration.

Claims

1. Message handling system, comprising:

a) storage means (12) to store a plurality of messages (m e M) and to provide dynamic access thereto via at least one attribute (a = (p, f) G A) assigned to each message, each attribute describing at least one aspect (p e P) of a message and a specific value

(f G F) for this aspect,

b) input/output means (14) to transfer messages to and from the storage means (12), respectively,

c) view specifying means (16) to input a user- defined view (V) on the stored messages through a set of view aspects (py c P) and a set of view values (fPV ┬ú ^Fp) f┬░^r each view aspect,

d) message retrieval means (12, 18) to select messages (m G My) of a view (V) from the storage means (12) in accordance with the specific view aspects (py) and view values (fpy) assigned thereto.

2. Message handling system according to claim 1, characterized in that the message retrieval means (12, 18) select messages (m G My) of a view according to

where:

P_v are the aspects of a view (V) , and fpy are the valves of these aspects.

3. Message handling system according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that it further comprises a message processor means (18) to process the messages selected from the storage means (12) in accordance with the view.

4. Message handling system according to one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the storage means (12) is adapted to store the single messages in a sequential way such that to every message there is a attached a linked list of attributes.

5. Message handling system according to one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the storage means (12) is adapted to store all attributes in a sequential way such that to every attribute there is a attached a linked list of messages.

6. Messages handling system according to one of the claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the view specifying means (16) comprises a view storage means (22) to store standard views.

7. Message handling system according to claim 6, characterized in that the view specifying means (16) further comprises a pointer administration means (24) such that for every view stored in the view storage means (22) there is maintained a list of pointers to all messages being related to the specific view, respectively.

8. Message handling system according to one of the claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the message processing means (18) comprises a filter means (28) to identify messages transferred to and from the storage means (12) , respectively, in accordance to a prespecified view.

9. Message handling system according to claim 8, characterized in that the filter unit (28) is adapted to execute automatic alerting in case a message being related to a specific view is transferred to and from the storage means (12), respectively.

10. Message handling system according to claim 8, that the filter means (28) is adapted to automatically initiate a billing step in case a message being related to a specific view is transferred to and/or from the storage means (12), respectively.

11. Message handling system according to claim 8, characterized in that the filter unit (28) is adapted to block a transfer of a message being related to specific view in case this message is transferred to or from the storage means (12) , respectively, and in case security and/or authentication requirements are not fulfilled.

12. Message handling system according to one of the claims 2 to 11, characterized in that it further comprises a sorting means (30) to sort selected messages according to user specified criteria, operation system dependent criteria, or hardware specified criteria, respectively.

13. Message handling system according to one of the claims 2 to 12, characterized in that the message processing means (18) further comprises an editing means (32) adapted to edit an attribute of a message selected according to a view so as to add, delete, or modify the aspect and/or aspect value thereof.

14. Message handling system according to one of the claims 2 to 13, characterized in that the message processing means (18) further comprises a structuring means (32) adapted to classify a plurality of messages selected according to a view into at least two messages (text, audio, video, picture, mail, voice mail, fax) .

15. Message handling system according to claim 14, characterized in that the structuring means (32) is further adapted to carry out a synchronization between different messages in the at least two categories.

16. Method of handling electronic messages in a digital communication system, comprising the steps:

a) storing at least one message (m e M) in a storage means (12) in a way that at least one attribute (a = (p, f) G A) is assigned to each message and each attribute describes at least one aspect (p e

P) of a message and a specific value (f e F) assigned to this aspect, b) receiving a user defined view (V) on the stored messages a set of view aspects (py c P) and a set of view valves (f_py e fp₎ for each view aspect, and

c) selecting all messages from the storage means

(12) according to the view (V) and the specified view aspects and view values assigned thereto.

17. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 16, characterized in that messages (m e My) of a view are selected according to

M_v = <| m e p e P_v ╬¢ v e/_pV

where :

P_v are the aspects of a view (V) , and fpV are the valves of these aspects.

18. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that messages are processed in a processing means (18) according to user specified requirement.

19. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 17, characterized in that the steps of processing the selected messages comprise the editing of messages and related attributes, respectively.

20. Method of handling electronic messages according to one of the claims 17 to 19, characterized in that the processing of selected messages further comprises the step of structuring the messages according to different groups and synchronization restrictions imposed as attributes on the messages.

21. Method of handling electronic messages according to one of the claims 16 to 20, characterized in that it further comprises the step of filtering the selected messages according to user specified criteria, operation system specific criteria, or hardware specific criteria, respectively.

22. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 21, characterized in that it further comprises the step of automatic alerting in case of filtering a message according to a specific view during transfer of the message to and from the storage means (12) .

23. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that it further comprises the step of automatically initiating a billing step in case of filtering a message according to a view during transfer to and from the storage means (12) .

24. Method of handling electronic messages according to one of the claims 21 to 23, characterized in that it further comprises the step of blocking a transfer of a message according to a view security and/or authentication requirements are not fulfilled.

25. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 16, characterized in that it further comprises the step of adding new views in an automatic manner in case prespecified events occur in a related message management system.

6. Method of handling electronic messages according to claim 25, characterized in that it further comprises the step of adding new attributes in case of occurrence of prespecified events in the related message management system.